Labor has asked the federal police to investigate use of electoral roll, as links between fund manager and Tim Wilson’s inquiry deepen

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The fund manager Geoff Wilson has admitted to part-funding the website through which the Liberal MP Tim Wilson has coordinated opposition to Labor’s franking credit policy, while chairing an inquiry into it.

Late on Friday Geoff Wilson issued a statement clarifying his involvement in stoptheretirementtax.com.au, after a growing controversy over whether the pair – who are first cousins once-removed – have inappropriately politicised the parliamentary inquiry.

On Friday Labor asked the Australian federal police to investigate whether Tim Wilson inappropriately shared electoral roll information for commercial purposes while campaigning against the opposition’s franking credit policy.

The referral was based on a Fairfax Media report that a constituent of Wilson’s received material both from the Liberal MP and from Wilson Asset Management, the funds management company chaired by Geoff Wilson, after responding to a robopoll.

Tim Wilson, who chairs the House economics committee and is also a shareholder in funds managed by Wilson Asset Management, has denied any wrongdoing, telling Guardian Australia he had “not shared any voter’s private information from the electoral roll with [Wilson Asset Management]”.

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The Fairfax Media report quoted a resident of the Melbourne suburb of Brighton, Gwen Woodford, who said she had answered “yes” to a robocall from Tim Wilson, and later received “multiple emails promoting Wilson Asset Management funds”.

Labor MP Matt Thistlethwaite, the deputy chair of the committee, wrote to the AFP commissioner, Andrew Colvin, on Friday arguing the report suggested Tim Wilson had “obtained private information from the Commonwealth electoral roll and disclosed it to Wilson Asset Management” to allow it to market its financial products to voters.

Q&A What are franking credits? Show Hide A franking credit is an entitlement to a reduction in personal income tax payable to the Australian Taxation Office. The entitlement is offered to individuals who own shares in a company in recognition of the tax on profits paid by that company. It is attached to a dividend which the company pays to shareholders out of its after-tax profits. The value of the franking credit is equivalent to the tax paid on the individual’s share of the company profit before it was distributed as a dividend. The rationale for the credit is to avoid double taxation. Because the company has already paid tax on the dividend, the accompanying franking credit reduces tax payable by the individual on their total taxable income. If a company is paying the full 30% company tax rate, a “fully franked” dividend of 70 cents per share will be accompanied by a franking credit of 30 cents per share, representing the tax that the company has paid on its $1 per share of pre-tax profits. Franking credits are only available to Australian residents. Historically, the ATO did not refund individuals with cash for any franking credits in excess of their tax payable, but this was changed by the Howard government in 2000 to allow individuals to receive cash refunds even if they do not pay any personal income tax.

Thistlethwaite said the report was “highly concerning” and asked Colvin to investigate whether Tim Wilson or any officer of Wilson Asset Management “may have committed any criminal offence”.

He noted that under section 91B of the Commonwealth Electoral Act, the use or disclosure of voter information obtained from the electoral roll is a crime, punishable by a fine of up to $210,000.

However, the Act allows use and disclosure of the electoral roll by MPs and others including private companies for “any purpose in connection with an election”.

Labor has also asked the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet to consider whether Tim Wilson misused the Commonwealth coat of arms in a tweet and in letters to constituents, where it reportedly appeared alongside the Liberal party logo.

Tim Wilson suggested voters might have been contacted because “if [they] tick the box that they want to be kept informed of the campaign to stop the retirement tax at stoptheretirementtax.com.au we will do so”.

“This is an election issue, and ultimately will be informed by who wins government,” he told Guardian Australia.

In his statement, Geoff Wilson said Wilson Asset Management “did not fund www.stoptheretirementtax.com” but admitted he “personally contributed to the website in the appropriate way, along with a number of other concerned individuals”.

Geoff Wilson said: “Our shareholders’ data is safe and has not been shared.

“We have only communicated with our shareholders and signatories of our petition.”

Labor member David Craig, a retiree with a self-managed super fund, told Guardian Australia he made a submission in support of Labor’s policy on the stoptheretirementtax website.

At that time the website required submitters to tick to sign a petition, which is run by Wilson Asset Management, and agree to future campaign communications.

Craig was then contacted by Wilson Asset Management with campaign information, including future hearing dates for the committee.

“I thought I was sending a submission to a parliamentary inquiry,” he said.

“I was infuriated I had to tick that I was against the policy to make a submission. I knew it was a partisan, biased inquiry but I still wanted to make my voice heard.”

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Tim Wilson said stoptheretirementtax was clearly a “campaign site” and there “is no subtlety”.

“If people choose to submit their details for petitions and campaigning that is their choice.”

Submissions to the committee can also be made on the official parliament website.

On Friday the committee held further hearings in the Sydney suburbs of Chatswood and Bondi Junction.

The morning meeting in Chatswood was interrupted by a protester who labelled the inquiry a “sham”, as tempers flared among retirees who say they will be financially disadvantaged by the Labor policy and citizens who object to the handling of the inquiry.

Senior Liberals, including the treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, have backed Wilson.

On Friday Frydenberg told Radio National Wilson had “adhered to the rules [and] adhered to his disclosure requirements” by noting he owned shares in funds managed by Wilson Asset Management on his pecuniary interest register.

“The only thing he’s done wrong is got up the nose of [shadow treasurer] Chris Bowen because … this policy announcement by the Labor party is causing an enormous amount of disquiet,” he said.

The Liberal MP Trent Zimmerman accused Labor of trying to “attack the chair, attack the committee process to distract attention from the very real anger and concerns” of retirees.

On Thursday Guardian Australia revealed that while Geoff Wilson has campaigned against the franking credit policy by claiming the reform will devastate retirees’ livelihoods, he has also told his own investors that Labor’s revenue claims were “ludicrous” because investors could simply restructure their affairs.