Grievance Debate

McTERNAN, MR J.

Mr PISONI (Unley) (15:44): Before travelling to Australia in May 2007, at a fundraising dinner for the British New Labour think-tank Per Capita, the former director of political operations at Downing Street under Tony Blair, John McTernan, said, 'In politics, "fear" may trump "hope" but "time for change" trumps "fear".' So it is no wonder that we see him in New South Wales helping the Labor Party try to recover the mess it has delivered over the last 16 years. This was an obvious reference to his hope that the assistance that he was planning to give Kevin Rudd would result in the defeat of the Howard government in the election in that year.

Of course, this is the same John McTernan who was interviewed under caution by Scotland Yard over the Cash for Peerages scandal, being linked as director of Labour PM Tony Blair's political operations unit, in preparation for a list of names to be nominated for peerages in exchange for donations to Labour. So he was involved in nominating people for the House of Lords in the UK in exchange for donations to the Labour Party. It is no wonder he is working for the New South Wales Labor Party. He fits right in.

In 2007, British Labour tried to reward John McTernan for his loyal services by giving him a safe Labour seat, but he was soon dumped. I will read an extract from the London Evening Standard on 28 January 2007. It said:

The position of a top Labour Party aide involved in the cash-for-honours affair was described as 'untenable' amid reports that he had been dumped as a potential MP.

Meanwhile, Downing Street denied reports that a handwritten note by Tony Blair was among new evidence uncovered by police investigating the affair. Well, of course they would. The Scottish Daily Express reports that John McTernan was being lined up to contest a by-election for a safe Labour seat in Glasgow, but the paper claimed that the plans had now been shelved as a result of his involvement in the 'cash-for-honours' probe.

Last week it emerged that Mr McTernan was questioned for a second time by police investigating the allegations that peerages were given away in return for loans that were later converted into Labour Party donations.

Although British Labour's attempt to reward John McTernan failed by removing his options for a parliamentary career, Mr McTernan has been rewarded for his services to the Labor Party here in Australia by having used his influence and experience from the British Labour Party to arrange high-level meetings with Tony Blair for ALP leaders such as John Brumby and Steve Bracks, and of course to advise Kevin Rudd—and we now know the Premier of South Australia.

Coincidentally, Mr McTernan was also made Thinker in Residence at the Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment in 2004. It is not even an original idea of Mike Rann's to have him as the Thinker in Residence here in South Australia. In the Melbourne Age, John McTernan is quoted as saying in regard to the great assistance the Australian Labor Party in this country has given to the British Labour Party:

I have always been aware of the debt the British Labour Party owes the Australian Labor Party. They were very generous to us and it mattered to us to learn from them.

This, of course, is the Hawke/Keating government when Labour was in opposition in the UK. I just wonder what government resources were sent over to the Labour Party in the UK to help it while it was in opposition.

In the transitional Labor club it seems that it has been a case of 'you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours'. It is obvious that Rann Labor is giving Mr McTernan's back a really good rub at the moment—

Members interjecting:

Mr PISONI: —on behalf of the Australian Labor Party.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Unley—

Mr PISONI: It would appear that the taxpayers of South Australia—

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Unley, I am speaking, so you are not. Sit down; and I was just about to help you as well. Hold the clock. Member for Unley, the people who are interjecting the most and making it impossible to hear you are the people on your own side. You may well be cheering but you are not cheering in a very helpful way. I am not using your time, but I would point out to you that almost no-one can hear what you are saying because of your own people. Now, everyone brings something useful to a discussion, and what your colleagues can bring you is silence.

Mr PISONI: It would appear, of course, that the taxpayers of South Australia are footing the bill for the loyalty that Mr McTernan has given to the Australian Labor Party. If we look at its front page, the Thinker in Residence website asks, 'Who is John McTernan?' The website states:

John McTernan is now the Director of the recently established New Scotland Foundation which is a non-partisan think tank.

You have to believe it—it's on the Premier's website, it must be true. While the South Australian government is paying him, he is also still writing articles for the British press. Just last Monday (21 March) he wrote quite a lengthy article for the British Telegraph, so he has been working for everyone else but being paid by the South Australian taxpayers. But he is very proud of his political affiliations because he tweeted just this morning:

New South Wales Liberals on me: 'One of Britain's most controversial political operatives.' That is going straight into my CV.