THE HON MARK DREYFUS QC MP
SHADOW ATTORNEY GENERAL
SHADOW MINISTER FOR NATIONAL SECURITY
MEMBER FOR ISAACS
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC PERTH AND WA BREAKFAST
MONDAY, 4 FEBRUARY 2019
SUBJECT: Ian Goodenough
NADIA MITSOPOULOS, HOST: There is a report in The Australian today which has revealed that Ian Goodenough, the Member for Moore, took a delegation of Asian investors to two businesses in Cervantes last year. Now they are both lobster businesses, and if they strike any export deals, a commission gets paid to a company that Mr Goodenough is a director of.
I'm sure you can see where this is going and what is being suggested here.
Now we did have an interview arranged with Ian Goodenough. He told us this morning that he'd be happy to speak with us, but we don't seem to be able to get in contact with him right now. So Mr Goodenough, if you are listening, we are still very keen to push on with the interview that you were happy to conduct earlier this morning. Lets in the meantime chat to Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus. Good morning.
SHADOW ATTORNEY-GENERAL MARK DREYFUS: Good morning Nadia.
MITSOPOULOS: What is your understanding of this situation?
DREYFUS: Well, we have another example of a Liberal MP failing to meet standards of integrity and probity and honesty. Following the model established by Stuart Robert, another Liberal MP, Mr Goodenough, a Western Australian member, seems to have used his position as a Member of Parliament to promote a business in which that he has a financial interest.
MITSOPOULOS: What are you suggesting here in regard to what he may have done wrong?
DREYFUS: Going on the reports, in June last year, Mr Goodenough took a 250 strong delegation and media from the Australia-Asia Exchange Conference, to a restaurant called The Lobster Shack, over there in Perth. He promoted the visit on his official MP Facebook page, bragging about business opportunities from the visit, and the catch is that The Lobster Shack is owned by Mr Goodenough's business partner and Mr Goodenough has confirmed that he received a commission if any export opportunities were secured through that visit.
Now, I think it ought to be self-evident that Members of Parliament should not be using the status of their office to benefit them personally, in fact that's written into the House of Representatives practice. They certainly shouldn't be using their public office, their elected office, to benefit business partners in this way and Mr Goodenough should be forced immediately to give a full explanation of all the details. I'm very disappointed to hear that he wasn't prepared to come on the radio.
MITSOPOULOS: Well, he has just taken our call. He is in situ and well go to him in a moment.
DREYFUS: I'm very pleased to hear it. He owes the public of Australia an explanation.
MITSOPOULOS: So the two cant be separated? That he could be doing this not as an MP but in his role with that business?
DREYFUS: I gather that Mr Goodenough is trying to pretend that what he did is alright because he didn't host the visit in his capacity as an MP. His official social media pages certainly suggest otherwise. You have to keep your public office and the resources of your office, your social media pages, everything you do as an MP, has to be kept separate from any private business purposes.
MITSOPOULOS: Don't those things need to be declared?
DREYFUS: Absolutely, and there's a deficiency in the way in which Mr Goodenough had declared his interest in that he hasn't talked in any way about receiving or potentially receiving a commission, and he hasn't fully disclosed all of his shareholdings either. That's a slightly separate matter. Here, we've got a very distinct activity of taking a 250 strong delegation and media from this Australia-Asia Exchange Conference - there are photos all over Mr Goodenough's social media - to The Lobster Shack, that's owned by his business partner, and we've learned from media reports today that he is entitled to a commission if there are any export opportunities secured through that visit. Now that is well over the line of mixing your public office with private business and financial interests.
MITSOPOULOS: Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus is my guest on ABC Radio Perth and WA Breakfast Program. Mr Dreyfus, what needs to happen here?
DREYFUS: Right away the Government needs to force Mr Goodenough to give a full explanation of events in writing, so that everyone in Australia can see what it is that he's done. Whats his interest? Whats his connection with his business partner? Whats his connection with The Lobster Shack? What are the commission opportunities that he has if any export deals result from this visit?
We've only got a shadowy outline about what happened here at the moment from the media reports, but what needs to happen is he now needs to be forced by the government to give a full explanation.
MITSOPOULOS: Well leave it there. Appreciate your time this morning. That is the Shadow Attorney-General, Mark Dreyfus.
ENDS
