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Martin Ferguson: in breach of parliament’s code of ethics for ex-ministers?

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Conflicts of Interest | Labor | QED

Martin Ferguson: in breach of parliament’s code of ethics for ex-ministers?

2013

Martin Ferguson was minister for resources and energy for more than five years before resigning in March 2013. Under the code of ethics, ministers are required to have an 18-month cooling-off period upon leaving parliament. Ferguson joined the fossil fuel lobby within six months of resigning as minister.

Martin Ferguson spent 17 years in parliament before resigning just before the September 2013 federal election. He was the minister for resources and energy from December 2007 to March 2013. Within six months of resigning as minister Ferguson had taken up a lucrative position with peak oil and gas industry lobby group APPEA (the Australian Petroleum Producers and Exploration Association) in October 2013.

At the same time he took up a position as head of natural resources for Seven Group Holdings. In June 2014 he was involved in Seven Group’s attempt to buy Nexus, which got a favourable retention lease over the Crux gas field in the Browse Basin off Western Australia in February 2013, when Ferguson was minister for resources. In “late 2013’’ he became a non-executive board member of British Gas.

What's a rort?

Conflicts of Interest

Redirecting funding to pet hobbies; offering jobs to the boys without a proper tender process; secretly bankrolling candidates in elections; taking up private sector jobs in apparent breach of parliament’s code of ethics, the list goes on.

Deceptive Conduct

Claiming that greenhouse gas emissions have gone down when the facts clearly show otherwise; breaking the law on responding to FoI requests; reneging on promised legislation; claiming credit for legislation that doesn’t exist; accepting donations that breach rules. You get the drift of what behaviour this category captures.

Election Rorts

In the months before the last election, the Government spent hundreds of millions of dollars of Australian taxpayers’ money on grants for sports, community safety, rural development programs and more. Many of these grants were disproportionally awarded to marginal seats, with limited oversight and even less accountability.

Dubious Travel Claims

Ministerial business that just happens to coincide with a grand final or a concert; electorate business that must be conducted in prime tourist locations, or at the same time as party fundraisers. All above board, maybe, but does it really pass the pub test? Or does it just reinforce the fact that politicians take the public for mugs?

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