Now you’ve Roshena: The Campbell preamble

Appreciate our quality journalism? Please subscribe here

SUPPORT

EXCLUSIVE

ANTHONY KLAN

Liberal candidate for today’s Aston by-election Roshena Campbell appears to have already ingratiated herself with the so-called Victorian “blue bloods” of the party, before even winning the seat, as widely tipped.

In February former Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg emerged from new found obscurity to “endorse” Campbell, despite being having suffered an historic trouncing in last year’s Federal Election.

That public endorsement is despite Frydenberg having overseen the cover-up of a high-profile inquiry into corruption at the top of Australia’s corporate regulator.

James Shipton and Daniel Crennan QC — so-called “blue bloods” of the Melbourne establishment — were forced to depart as chair and deputy chair of the Australian Security and Investments Commission (ASIC) after it was revealed they paid themselves almost $200,000 more than they were legally entitled.

Frydenberg as Treasurer announced an investigation into the scandal, to be conducted by private investigator Dr Vivienne Thom — at an ultimate cost to taxpayers of over $100,000 — and promised to make its findings public.

Yet as revealed by The Klaxon, Frydenberg subsequently released a version of Thom’s report that had been secretly doctored, with three-quarters of its key findings secretly deleted.

The Klaxon’s expose. Source: The Klaxon

Frydenberg pointed to that doctored version of the report — which had been “prepared by Treasury” — to falsely claim no wrongdoing had occurred.

Despite Frydenberg’s central role in the cover-up of corruption at the top of Australia’s corporate regulator, Campbell has used him as a key plank of her election strategy.

Apparently siding with the ongoing Frydenberg cover-up, Campbell refused to respond to questions from The Klaxon put to her yesterday about the scandal.

Campbell refused to answer written questions put to her both directly and through the Liberal Party head office.

Enjoying this article? Click here to support our important work

Last weekend she appeared with Frydenberg at an early voting poll.

“Roshena has the values, the experience and the commitment to deliver for the local community,” Frydenberg posted to social media.

“Roshena has the values, the experience and the commitment to deliver for the local community” – Josh Frydenberg

Roshena “has the values” – Frydenberg posts to social media. Source: Twitter

Shipton, the son of former Liberal MP Roger Shipton, is a former managing director at globally notorious investment bank Goldman Sachs.

Ousted ASIC deputy chair Crennan is a Melbourne-based barrister.

Campbell is also a barrister. Her husband James Campbell is politics editor at Melbourne’s Herald Sun.

The newspaper has been heavily criticised for unethical reporting with extreme bias in favour of the Coalition, including prominently pushing conspiracy theories against Labor Premier Daniel Andrews.

Shipton was hired by the Coalition Government in late 2017.

At Goldman Sachs Shipton was head of regulation for south-east Asia, when the bank raised $6.5 billion for Singapore’s 1MDB, which later went bust with most of the money disappearing.

The scandal brought down the Malaysian Government and sparked inquiries in at least five countries.

Shipton denies any wrongdoing.

After Frydenberg was ousted from his seat of Kew at last May’s federal election, he was appointed to Goldman Sachs as “senior regional advisor for the Asia Pacific”.

A “child of the Melbourne establishment”. Source: AFR

Despite having overseen the corruption of the “investigation” into corruption at the top of the nation’s corporate regulator, many pundits have predicted Frydenberg will attempt to be re-elected to federal parliament.

The vast majority of the public remains unaware of Frydenberg’s ASIC cover-up, with almost all media outlets repeating his false claims that the inquiry cleared Shipton of any wrongdoing.

All of ASIC’s current executives have repeated refused to back Frydenberg’s claims that no wrongdoing occurred.

As previoulsy revealed, Thom quit as a senior executive at CPM Reviews, the company appointed to conduct the ASIC probe, almost immediately after Frydenberg published the doctored version of her report.

Despite the salary breaches being the biggest scandal in ASIC’s 30-year history, there have been no consequences over the secret deletions of the investigation’s findings.

A political push by Frydenberg would also be despite him as Treasurer giving over $40 billion of taxpayer funds to companies that didn’t need it under the JobKeeper stimulus, in one of the worst cases of taxpayer waste in Australian history.

All ASIC executives refuse to back Frydenberg’s claims. Source: The Klaxon

Weeks out from last year’s May federal election, it emerged the then CEO of Guide Dogs Victoria Karen Hayes had appeared in advertisements spruiking Frydenberg, despite it being illegal for charities to endorse politicians or political parties.

The advertisements were legally authorised by Frydenberg.

“The advertisements were legally authorised by Frydenberg”

The scandal kicked off a devastating year for the charity, drawing the spotlight on its systemic poor performance.

Last financial year it delivered just 40 dogs, despite receiving over $21 million in revenue.

Frydenberg has consistently refused to comment when asked about the findings of the ASIC investigation

WE HAVE A SMALL FAVOUR TO ASK! Only around 1% of our readers currently contribute. Please help us stay afloat and telling these stories. Please SUBSCRIBE or CLICK HERE to make a one-off donation. Thank you!

Anthony Klan

Editor, The Klaxon