ROD Culleton claims he’s still performing the work of a federal Senator in dealing with constituent issues like farm foreclosures, along with his staff, despite being disqualified from federal parliament earlier this month.
The outspoken ex-WA grain farmer and horse feed proprietor was declared bankrupt on December 23 in a Federal Court ruling that forced Senate President Stephen Parry to provide official notice of his ineligibility for parliament, as per the constitution.
Senator Parry also wrote to the Governor of Western Australia saying a vacancy now existed in the state’s federal political representation following the former One Nation Senator’s disqualification.
His letter said official documentation had been received from the Inspector-General in Bankruptcy and the Federal Court Registry recording Mr Culleton’s status as an undischarged bankrupt; due to a sequestration order issued by the Federal Court.
A hearing is due to be held tomorrow on the that bankruptcy ruling, after Mr Culleton’s legal team successfully gained another extension last week on the stay order against the sequestration of his estate.
The bankruptcy decision against Mr Culleton and his company Elite Grains was brought on by former Wesfarmers director Dick Lester’s claim through his company Balwyn Nominees to recover a $280,000 debt over a land lease and sale arrangement and sale of oats that soured in early 2010 between the two former farm-neighbours.
Chief Justice Allsop’s order said the expedited appeal would be “the question whether the appeal should be allowed and whether the sequestration order and any associated order as to costs should be set aside”.
Mr Culleton’s staff member Margaret Menzel was in Canberra today cleaning out her boss’ parliamentary office but was unable to complete the task, ahead of tomorrow’s final deadline, leaving various items behind including court papers.
But Ms Menzel was angered at the late notice provided by parliamentary officials saying she only became aware of the need to pack the office by midnight tonight, due to an email from Ministerial & Parliamentary Services, dated January 24.
The email was supplied to Fairfax Media and said Mr Culleton would not be paid allowances as a Senator - understood to be about $200,000 per year minimum - from January 12, 2017 and parliamentary employees were automatically terminated in the event that a member ceased to hold that office.
The email said the termination of Ms Menzel’s employment had been deferred for two weeks, to assist with finalising her employer’s affairs.
But Ms Menzel said she was “disgusted” at how the issue had been communicated with short notice given about the need to clean out Mr Culleton’s offices in Canberra and Perth – but stressed she believed the move would only be temporary, due to the appeal.
Earlier this week, Mr Culleton said “At this point in time, I’m not required in Canberra”.
“Due to being a Senator for WA, I’m actively home in my state working for the constituents of WA and that’s been right since I left parliament before Christmas,” he said.
“I haven’t been on any annual leave other than probably a day or two around Christmas – but even on Christmas Day I was working with other farmers so it’s business as usual.”
“My staff are actively dealing with constituents in Western Australia, taking the phone calls and actively at work doing their job and why wouldn’t they be?
“It’s all business as usual.”
Ms Menzel said Mr Culleton had only been able to fill four out of the seven possible allowed staffing entitlements in his office, due to the ongoing pressure of his various legal challenges.
She promised to take legal action over her perceived mishandling of his affairs since his disqualification was declared, by Senator Parry.
However, Senator Parry’s office has stood firm saying it has acted according to the constitution – which was the nation’s ultimate jurisdiction - while the Department of Finance has handled matters concerning Mr Culleton’s Perth office and staffing arrangements.
Senator Parry’s office have declined to comment further on the matter, since providing official notification of the disqualification earlier this month.
His office is now waiting for the High Court’s ruling to be returned - that’s expected at the end of this month - on the question of whether Mr Culleton was eligible for election, when he signed his nomination form ahead of last year’s federal poll.
Senator Parry is expected to make a formal statement to the Upper House on what’s occurred with Mr Culleton’s eligibility ruling, when federal parliament resumes for the start of 2017, on February 7.
In a statement on January 11, Senator Parry said he’d informed Mr Culleton and other members of the vacancy and was now waiting on the Court of Disputed Returns to decide how to proceed.
“It is a necessary and automatic consequence of the declaration of bankruptcy of a serving Senator, that his place as a Senator becomes vacant,” it said.
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson is hopeful of being able to replace Mr Culleton through a casual vacancy, as per the bankruptcy ruling, but has been coy on naming a potential replacement.
Many leading options, like WA One Nation leader Colin Tincknell, have now been declared candidates for the March 11, WA election.
But Mr Culleton said “there will be no one better than me to fill that seat”.
“If they were all on sale at the local sale yard they wouldn’t fetch much,” he said of One Nation’s options.
“I don’t see any hands going up in the air for a bid – I think they’d go through at no commercial value.”
He said if Senator Parry wasn’t going to pay him to be a Senator, then “I’m still working for nothing”.
“What a good Senator I am to still have the wheels and the cogs turning and am funding it myself,” he said.
“To me Senator Parry has clearly jumped the gun – it’s very public now – he’s mucked up the pH in my swimming pool.
“His pH has fouled the water of my swimming pool – it’s become very acidic.”
Senator Culleton said “one has to be very mindful” of the orders made by Justice Barker in the December 23 bankruptcy ruling and the Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Australia Justice Allsop, allowing a stay on all proceedings.
“And all proceedings means all proceedings and that would definitely come under the umbrella of Senator Parry who is just a duly elected Senator out of Tasmania but seems to be thinking he’s above the law,” he said.
“As far as I‘m concerned I’m a law abiding citizen and always have been.
“I’ve put up this great fight against the banks and sure I’ve come up with a couple of battle scars, but at all times I respect what the court is doing and that’s why I invest money to pay filing fees because that’s the remedy.
“And until the court completely comes down with a court order that says I was ineligible or I’m insolvent and that court order is enforced and the rights of appeal have been exhausted, I’m not going anywhere.
“I’m not going anywhere until a court order tells me I can no longer be a Senator.”
Mr Culleton said he had files in his Canberra and Perth offices but would not elaborate on any other materials he needed.
“I’m not going to say what’s in my office; they’re my tools of trade to do my job,” he said.
“It’s premature to be taking this course of action but I don’t believe they’re going to pack me up on Australia Day.
“They’re pre-empting the court outcome and I have to be very measured in what I say but to me I believe they’re hindering my prospects of actually doing any sort of commercial settlement that may or may not be required, around this purported bankruptcy.
“We’ve had a single judge lose control of the court and that’s just basically shone a little bit of bankruptcy on my skin – flicked with me with a little bit of bankruptcy paint - and now all of a sudden it’s a constitutional issue.
“We have a lot of distressed people coming in about the Family Court and also a lot of people distressed now because they think Senator Culleton is up against the ropes and Senator Brandis and Senator Parry are both throwing in the punches.
“We’ve had a lot of aggrieved farmers in Queensland and NSW and have been successfully keeping the receivers off their properties - but now the receivers are starting to move in.
“That Senate seat definitely has the initials of RC – Rodney Culleton and Royal Commission and that’s what I’m fighting for.
“If we lose that seat we’ll lose any hope of a Royal Commission (into banking).”
Mr Culleton - who was elected on a pledge to have the Royal Commission examine issues with the sale of the Landmark loans book to the ANZ Bank which he blames for his financial troubles with Mr Lester and others - said he wasn’t angered at having his name removed from the front entrance to his office in Canberra.
“Why would it make me angry?” he said.
“I’m not going to argue with them – I’ve got to focus on this fight and I’m not going to get distracted by little (insignificant) things like this.
“This could be very embarrassing for the government and it’s the very reason I got into parliament.
“I’m sorting out the judicial system and making massive inroads into the judicial system.”
Mr Culleton said if parliamentary officials packed up his Canberra office the day after Australia Day it would be, “a sad day for Australia because it clearly shows democracy doesn’t exist in Australia any-more”.
“And that’s a fact because parts of government just clearly think they’re above the law, so how can you have a good democracy when you’re government thinks it’s untouchable?” he said.
“There’s no true democracy; we’ve lost our way.
“The problems we have in Australia are all government based.”
Asked about his chances of winning the appeal, Mr Culleton said he did not believe the court could bankrupt him “because I’m not insolvent”.
“What is abundantly clear is that Rodney Culleton, his own entity, as an individual, in effect has won a contract and was duly elected under a government contract, to be paid to represent Western Australia as a Senator for federal parliament,” he said.
“And what Senator Parry has done is jumped in and frustrated and hindered Senator Culleton’s asset – because that’s what it is – my asset.
“What Senator Parry has done is jump the gun against court orders and completely frustrated and potentially may have hindered my position personally and I’m not happy about that.
“He’s saying I could go to jail for impersonating a Senator – he’s saying that.
“Secondly he’s saying all of my staff have been laid off and are not getting paid but I’ve not heard any of my staff complaining that they’re not getting paid.
“He’s turned around and said I’m no longer a Senator and I’m going to be tossed out of my office; well he’s taking away my tools of trade to where I can’t represent my people when I go back to parliament.
“If everything gets set aside and all of my gear’s half way across the Nullarbor (Plain) how am I supposed to go to Canberra and play my role as a Senator?”
The High Court matter, deciding whether Mr Culleton was eligible to be a candidate at the 2016 election, relates to him being convicted and awaiting sentencing in a NSW court, for stealing a $7.50 tow truck key in an incident related to vehicles linked to his horse feed business.
But that conviction was later annulled and he then plead guilty and no conviction was recorded, in decisions made after the July 2 election.
If the High Court rules Mr Culleton was ineligible, for election, his replacement would be decided by a vote re-count, which may see Mr Culleton’s brother-in-law Peter Georgiou elected, who was named second on One Nation’s WA Senate ticket.