Senator Slade Brockman interrogated Finance Minister Katy Gallagher over the possible conflict of interest involving the consultancy firm 89 Degrees East and the Health Minister Mark Butler. In response to information that the company benefited from a $23 million federal government contract, Mr. Butler’s wife left her position at 89 Degrees East.
It is believed that Daniela Ritorto’s choice to leave the company had nothing to do with the award and was made for familial reasons instead. Senator Brockman’s assertions that the timeline of events under consideration constituted a “clear breach” of the ministerial code of conduct were denied by Ms. Gallagher.
Liberal Senator Slade Brockman has brought up the “huge gap” that existed before Health Minister Mark Butler reported a conflict of interest in accordance with the ministerial code of conduct to Finance Minister Katy Gallagher.
The Senate Community Affairs Committee closely examined the government’s contracts with the consulting firm 89 Degrees East on Thursday after learning that Mr. Butler’s wife, Daniela Ritorto, was a senior consultant at the company.
Mr. Brockman questioned Ms. Gallagher on the timing of the minister’s correspondence with the Health Department regarding a possible conflict of interest involving 89 Degrees East during Senate Estimates.
Ms. Gallagher fiercely denied the existence of a conflict of interest prior to Mr. Butler informing the department in October 2022, asserting that he had taken “appropriate” measures to uphold the code of conduct until Ms. Ritorto started working there permanently in 2023.
The Liberal Senator, however, cited a statement made by Mr. Butler in his August 2022 registration of member’s interests, in which he stated: “My partner is engaged as a communications consultant with 89 Degrees East.”
A “clear breach of the ministerial code of conduct” was present, according to Mr. Brockman.
According to Mr. Brockman, “We have a previous declaration from April 22, and we have another one from August, so clearly this was in the minister’s mind as a potential conflict of interest.”
“And the minister did not go to the department with this or the Prime Minister under the ministerial code of conflict until October, and I think that is a huge gap that the minister has to answer.”
Ms. Gallagher claimed that there was “no employment relationship” in 2022 notwithstanding the registration in the register of interests in August.
Prior to Ms. Ritorto’s reengagement with the company in 2023, she claimed that the Health Minister had been “very upfront” about a potential conflict.
Ms. Gallagher and Mr. Brockman spat insults back and forth throughout the heated discussion, and the Finance Minister made fun of the Coalition’s handling of contracts while it was in power.
“The minister has followed all of the rules, and while that might be a foreign concept to a government that never followed any rules, I accept that,” she said.
Senator Matt Canavan of the Nationals joined the argument and questioned why the minister had made the August statement if his wife had not, as alleged, performed any work for 89 Degrees East in 2022.
The House of Representatives appears to be being misled, Mr. Canavan said.
Following a lengthy argument, the Finance Minister consented to give the committee access to all correspondence between Anthony Albanese and the Health Minister as well as information about Ms. Ritorto’s employment contracts with the company in 2022.
Earlier, questions about the three contracts the Albanese government had with 89 Degrees East as well as correspondence between the government and the department were directed at the head of the health department.
In October 2022, Mr. Butler sought counsel from the Prime Minister and also alerted the department to a potential conflict of interest, according to Professor Brendan Murphy.
Before giving formal advice in February, the minister, according to Mr. Murphy, advised the department in October that he would prefer it not to utilize the firm.
When we were having that conversation, “he told me not to use 89 Degrees East, and that’s what prompted him to write to the PM,” Mr. Murphy stated.
“We had that discussion around October, he wrote to the PM, I said we would not use them, and then the PM wrote back and he formally instructed me on protocols where we could use them if we wanted to.”
Mr. Brockman referred to the five-month interval as “extraordinarily puzzling” between the Prime Minister’s delivery of advise in October and Mr. Butler conveying that information back to the department.
