Liberal Party forced to disclose Mantach payments

The Liberal Party has been dragged kicking and screaming to declare payments made by disgraced former director Damien Mantach.

“On Wednesday Labor raised concerns that the Liberal Party had breached the Commonwealth Electoral Act by failing to disclose repayments totalling $47,981.78.

“The Premier, Will Hodgman’s first response was to mislead Parliament by wrongly claiming that only donations are required to be declared. He later claimed he had misheard the question.

“I wrote to the Australian Electoral Commission raising concerns that the alleged repayment by Damien Mantach did not appear on the Liberal Party’s electoral returns, as required by law.

”Yesterday I received a reply from the Electoral Commission assuring me the matter was “under consideration.”

“Today it has been revealed that after this matter was raised in Parliament and with the Commission, the Liberal Party – Tasmanian Division, lodged a Request for Amendment to their 2007-2008 disclosure return to include three payments made by Mr Mantach totalling $42,375.42.

“I intend to also refer these latest developments to Tasmania Police.

“Importantly, no change was made to the party’s total payments in the 2007-2008 financial year.

“That means the original disclosure included the payments made by Mr Mantach but they were not itemised, despite the fact they were over the $10,000 threshold.

“This is further evidence that the Liberal Party attempted to cover up the circumstances surrounding Mr Mantach’s departure.

“It only creates more questions for Will Hodgman and the Liberals to answer.
Bryan Green MP Labor Leader