http://www.news.com.au/finance/work/former-minister-peter-garrett-says-he-refused-a- bribe-stuffed-in-an-envelope/story-fn5tas5k-1227560907423

Former minister Peter Garrett says he refused a bribe stuffed in an envelope OCTOBER 8, 20157:58AM

Former Labor minister and Midnight Oil front man Peter Garrett has changed his story about an alleged bribe. Photo Steve Pohlner Benedict Brooks AS FAR as corruption goes, it’s classic stuff. Fill a brown paper bag with wads of notes; deftly pass to the politician of your choice; sit back and reap the rewards of influence only cold hard cash can bring. So obvious a ploy in fact, you might have thought it was now firmly in the past. But just like the little black dress, envelopes stuffed with cash have not gone out of fashion in Australia. And a slew of prominent figures have come under scrutiny about what they did when offered a bulging bag of bills. Former Labor minister and Midnight Oil frontman Peter Garrett is under pressure today after he dramatically changed his story regarding an alleged attempt to buy his favour. In an ABC documentary being made about the poker machine industry, Mr Garrett explosively said a representative of industry association ClubsNSW gave him an envelope stuffed with cash after his election to parliament — claims the organisation strenuously denies. In the excerpt from the documentary, Mr Garrett said he was approached at a function hosted by the body to welcome new MPs. THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS “A representative came to me and said, ‘look, great to see you coming into politics, and we’re happy to provide some support’,” Mr Garrett said. He returned the envelope, he told the documentary makers, and didn’t count it. “But it was hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars. “I wasn’t going to accept money from them or from anyone in that way.” However, when approached to clarify his story, Mr Garrett backtracked. The envelope contained not cash but a cheque made out to his electoral office, he said, and the event in question occurred prior to him taking office, the ABC reported. If the latter version of events is true, the possible offence of bribery or attempted bribery of a public official would not apply. In a statement, ClubsNSW said they “unequivocally rejected” the “false claims” and the organisation fully declared all donations. Anti-pokies campaigner and Federal Member for Denison Andrew Wilkie said he was unconvinced with the explanation. “Why he would now abandon that story and talk about there just being a cheque in an envelope, it beggars belief?” he told theABC. ‘WALKING ATM’ Mr Garrett isn’t the only politician linked to cash-stuffed envelopes making waves today. This morning, the former lord mayor of Newcastle, Jeff McCloy, lost his High Court attempt to overturn a NSW ban on developers making political donations. Mr McCloy’s name came to national prominence last August when two former Liberal MPs, at that time in parliament, told the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) investigation into public officials receiving and concealing payments, that Mr McCloy had handed both of them cash-filled envelopes while he was mayor. Tim Owen, the member for Newcastle said Mr McCloy, a property developer, had given him an envelope when they first met and advised him it was to help with his election campaign, reported the Newcastle Herald.

Former Liberal Newcastle MP Tim Owen May 2014 announcement that he would not stand at the coming election. By August, he would resign and cause a by-election that Labor would win. Picture by Peter Lorimer.Source:News Corp Australia

Upon taking it home, Mr Owen discovered it contained $10,000 in hundred dollar notes. He told the ICAC he later “dumped” it in the letterbox of Mr McCloy, who at that point had yet to don the mayoral robes. A note accompanying the wads said words to the effect of “it just wasn’t a nice look”. Then Charlestown MP Andrew Cornwell also admitted to receiving an envelope during a 2010 meeting in Mr McCloy’s Bentley. Unlike Mr Owen he decided to keep the proceeds and spend it on his campaign. Following their testimony both MPs resigned from parliament. A few days later, Mr McCloy fronted the ICAC and, in an unexpectedly frank admission, confirmed the MPs’ testimonies, he felt like a “walking ATM”, reportedFairfax. Mr McCloy would himself fall on his sword and resign as lord mayor later that month. Still, he had a sense of humour about it. A few months later a photo surfaced of Mr McCloy posing beside a birthday cake shaped like a brown paper bag spewing cash.

Facebook picture of Jeff McCloy and his birthday cakeSource:Facebook

EXPENSIVE ENVELOPES It’s not just politicians who have found themselves on the receiving end of expensive envelopes. The disgraced ex-general secretary of the Health Services Union (HSU), Michael Williamson, pleaded guilty in 2013 to fraud charges related to an envelopes scam. An agreed statement of facts, signed by Williamson and reported in The Australian, revealed he reaped $600,000 by commissioning a businessman, Alfred Downing, to inflate the cost of printing union books in exchange for a share of the profits. Mr Downing then withdrew the cash in amounts of less than $10,000 to avoid alerting financial authorities, and delivered the money in envelopes to a close friend of Williamson’s. The friend took a cut and passed the rest to the union heavyweight, who oversaw the HSU from 1995-2012. In early 2014, Williamson was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in jail for fraud Independent South Australian MP Nick Xenophon said there needed to be more transparency and political donations should to be disclosed as soon as they were made. The senator has advocated greater public funding of campaigns to break the “political arms race” of donations. “I think people feel uneasy about political donations,” he told ABC’s AM earlier this year. “It’s become big business. The very act of giving political donations seems to be a case of risk management, particularly for large corporations.” However, whether any politician would feel at ease owning up to receiving a wad of cash in a brown paper bag remains to be seen.