UPDATE
I sent this email to Mr Abbott's chief advisor this morning.
Dear XXXX,
Mate I can make this a lot simpler.
QUESTION FOR MR ABBOTT
Was the Political Parties for Democracy program cancelled in February 2014?
(My note to Mr Abbott's office includes supporting material similar to the post below edited here for space.)
ENDS
The Political Parties for Democracy program, which the Abbott Government said it cancelled in February 2014 is continuing to provide $1M PA of taxpayers money to the Liberal and Labor Parties and $200K per annum to The Greens.
Earlier this week I wrote to the Finance Minister's media unit (a copy of my email is at the tail end of this article).
Yesterday a spokesperson for the Finance Minister Mathias Corman provided us with this breathtaking statement:
UNCLASSIFIED
Hi Michael,
Thank you for your email below.
In response to your follow up enquiry, on background, I can advise that:
As previously indicated, the Australian Political Parties for Democracy Program was transferred back from AusAid in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to the Department of Finance in 2014.
As part of that transfer AusAid funding agreements were replaced by agreements with the Department of Finance.
This program had previously been administered by the Department of Finance between 2005 and 2009.
In 2009 the Rudd Labor Government transferred the Australian Political Parties for Democracy Program from the Department of Finance to AusAid from where it has been transferred back to Finance in 2014.
The deed continues to provide funding of $1,000,000 per year for the Liberal Party of Australia and for the Australian Labor Party and $200,000 annually for the Australian Greens, over the three year period of the deed.
As this was a simple transfer of an existing program between departments, no announcement was necessary.
ENDS
A simple transfer between departments? No announcement necessary? And $1M of taxpayer money to the two major parties to fund their travel whims!
Does this sound like a transfer - extract from statement from Julie Bishop's office at the time?
This program has been cancelled by the Abbott Government, as part of the recent reprioritisation of the aid budget.
Fairfax reported:
Political parties stripped of millions in junket cash
Australia's big three political parties have been stripped of millions of dollars of taxpayer money they used to send their officials on overseas junkets.
The Liberals, Labor and the Greens shared out $2.2 million each year from an AusAID-administered fund, which was used to fly business class to catch up with their political sympathisers around the world.
It was even revealed late last year that a senior ALP official was having his wages subsidised from the AusAID's Australian Political Parties for Democracy Program.
But with the scrapping of the overseas aid agency by the Abbott government, part of $450 million worth of cuts to the foreign aid budget, they have been told that the party is over and this year's payments, due in July, will not be handed over.
The program was introduced in 2005 by the then Howard government and expanded in 2011 by his Labor successors to include the Greens.
The last deal, signed by the parties and AusAID in 2012, promised $3 million over three years to the Liberal and Labor Parties and $600,000 to the Greens.
But a DFAT spokeswoman has confirmed that the 2013 payments, of $2.2 million, had not been approved before her department's takeover of AusAID and that no more money would be forthcoming with the deal now scrapped.
“This program has been cancelled by the Abbott Government, as part of the recent reprioritisation of the aid budget,” the spokeswoman said.
She said DFAT was on firm legal ground pulling the pin on the deal less than halfway through their agreed terms.
“The contract between the Government and the three political parties allows for the termination of the agreement.”
The program has had a mixed recent history with media revelations of high-profile political figures being flown on taxpayers' money to international talk-fests with like-minded groups around the world.
In November 2013, it was revealed that ALP assistant national secretary Nick Martin, had a large portion of his salary paid from the AusAID grant.
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/political-parties-stripped-of-millions-in-junket-cash-20140213-32pg3.html#ixzz41ybw7CYi
ENDS
This stinks to high heaven. Earlier this week I sent a note to Tony Abbott's staff seeking comment from him, as of this morning I am yet to receive a substantive response.
I have not encountered such a bald-faced lie in my past dealings with government. I am at a loss as to how to respond. I would appreciate your advice on what to do next.
ATTACHMENT - EMAIL TO THE FINANCE MINISTER'S DEPARTMENT
I have plenty of references to the Abbott Government terminating the APPDP in February 2014.
I can't see any announcement of the re-establishment of the program, nor the terms under which it was re-established.
The Greens made an announcement about it:
- Lucy Quarterman, our new International Development Officer has just started with us after the recommencement in June of the Australian Political Parties for Democracy Program under the auspices of the Department of Finance. This follows the defunding and winding up of the program earlier this year due to budget cuts by the Government to AusAID and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The defunding of the program earlier this year can only be described as a debacle considering the utter disruption it caused for the projects we were engaged in, plus the need for a very unfortunate early termination to the contract of our employee at the time, Rathi Ramanathan.
And there's a reference to it in the May 2014 budget
www.finance.gov.au/sites/default/files/finance.docx
Contributions to Outcome 3
Programme 3.1 Objective
This programme contributes to the outcome through the provision of advice on, access to and payment of parliamentary and post-parliamentary entitlements and targeted assistance to entitlees.
The range of services, facilities and assistance provided includes:
- central service centre for provision of advice and support to clients and stakeholders;
- provision of third party provider contracts for access to entitlements;
- property and office facilities management;
- travel services;
- employment and personnel-services;
- payment and reporting of parliamentary and post-parliamentary entitlement expenditure;
- management of the Commonwealth Parliament Offices and the Ministerial Wing of Parliament House;
- car-with-driver services and related ground transport services; the Australian Political Exchange Programme;
- Australian Political Parties for Democracy Programme; and
- ministerial salaries.
But there's no line item for budget expenditure on the program.
The program is not referred to in the Finance Department's Annual Report for 2014/15.
Can you point me to an announcement? What are the terms of the program now, what's funded, how much money etc?
If no announcement was made, why not?
Thanks
ENDS