The government has attempted to fend off a formal inquiry into controversial meetings between Angus Taylor and the environment department over endangered grasslands by producing a letter that purports to show the minister was acting in the interests of his constituents and not himself.

But the letter, which was said to have come from a concerned farmer, was actually from a lobby group, the NSW Farmers Association, and was written nearly six months after the meetings were held.

Confusion over the letter led to the crossbench voting down a Labor motion for a parliamentary inquiry into the conduct of Taylor and then environment minister Josh Frydenberg.

As details of the letter became clear, the opposition vowed to move for a second vote on Monday. The inquiry would consider the conduct of the ministers in relation to endangered grasslands that were at the centre of an environment department investigation into a company Taylor part-owns.

Labor and the Greens had earlier increased pressure on the government over Taylor’s 2017 meeting with environment officials, with senators Penny Wong and Larissa Waters calling his actions “corrupt” – comments they were asked to withdraw.

The interrogation follows a Guardian Australia investigation that revealed Taylor met officials from Frydenberg’s office and department to discuss the federal government’s designation of the critically endangered grasslands known as the natural temperate grassland of the south-eastern highlands. Frydenberg was the environment minister at the time.

The meetings occurred at the same time that New South Wales and federal investigations were under way into the poisoning of about 30 hectares that contained the grasses on a property in the state’s Monaro region owned by Jam Land Pty Ltd.

One of the directors of that company is Richard Taylor, the minister’s brother, and the minister himself holds an interest in the firm via his family investment company, Gufee.

After lobbying by Taylor, Frydenberg’s office canvassed whether protections for the grasslands could be watered down and if the change had to be published.

A Labor motion in the Senate on Thursday for an inquiry into the matter was defeated after crossbenchers, including the Centre Alliance’s Rex Patrick, voted against it.

Labor tried to postpone their motion until next week but the government, which had secured the numbers to block it, brought it on for a vote.

But Penny Wong, Labor’s Leader in the Senate, said she would move again for an inquiry on Monday.

“They might want me to withdraw the word ‘corrupt’ but I reckon I know what people out there would say,” Wong said.

“… The government want to shut it down.”

Before voting against the inquiry, Patrick, who has made integrity matters a personal focus since joining the Senate, told the chamber he had been “shown evidence that Taylor was asked to make representation on behalf of some constituents”.

Taylor has repeatedly stated he sought the meeting in his capacity as the member for Hume and was acting on behalf of constituents.

Patrick said the evidence he had seen was a letter.

That letter was tabled later in the day and is dated 3 October 2017 – almost seven months after Taylor’s meeting on 20 March 2017.

Labor’s Kristina Keneally accused Patrick of substituting himself as “judge and jury” for the entire Senate.

“If we had an inquiry, these things could be put out in an evidentiary way and the inquiry could come to a considered position,” she said.

She said the government’s response had been “weak as water”.

“What we have is an allegation of corrupt conduct by a minister of the crown in a government that is refusing to bring in a federal national integrity commission, in a government that sometimes sits on the other side and yells out allegations about us over here but goes as weak as water when it comes to putting evidence before an inquiry,” she said.





For the third straight day, Labor used question time in the House of Representatives to ask Taylor why he met with environment officials and Frydenberg, why Jam Land Pty Ltd was not listed on his declaration of interests, and why a staff member from the department unit that was investigating the alleged land clearing was at the meeting.

The leader of opposition business, Tony Burke, moved to suspend standing orders for Taylor to answer Labor’s questions, but the motion was defeated because of the government’s majority in the house.

In response to earlier questions from Labor MPs, Taylor told the parliament he “didn’t ask for, nor indeed know that a compliance officer was present at the meeting”.

“I make absolutely no apology for seeking and receiving briefing on policies that affect the farmers in my electorate,” he said.



“And I am a proud farmer in my electorate and I will always seek and receive briefings on policies that impact them.”

The letter from the NSW Farmers Association refers to concerns of farmers, but does not name any individuals.

The letter says: “Since the amendment of the listing there has been an alleged breach of the the EPBC Act and heightened concerned (sic) from farmers in the regions covered by the listing.”