Senator says it became ‘an area of concern’ after reading reports by the Guardian of FOI documents into the matter

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Senator Rex Patrick has announced Centre Alliance will support an inquiry into controversial meetings between Angus Taylor and the environment department over endangered grasslands.

The reversal ups pressure on the energy minister after a week of Labor and the Greens targeting Taylor in parliament over whether he stood to personally benefit from lobbying to water down environmental protections for the grasslands.

Taylor attempted to fend off the attacks by producing a letter from the NSW Farmers Association written nearly six months after the meetings were held, purporting to show the minister was acting in the interests of his constituents and not himself.

On Thursday a Senate motion to establish a committee inquiry into Taylor’s role was narrowly defeated 35 votes to 31, with Centre Alliance siding with the government in what Labor’s Penny Wong described as a “protection racket” for the minister.

But on Sunday Patrick said his party will now support the inquiry because freedom of information documents – revealed by a Guardian Australia investigation – show that Taylor was trying to meet with the department in relation to the classification of the grasslands and at that point there was “no evidence” of any constituent concern about the issue.

Patrick said last week he was dissuaded from supporting an inquiry because “whilst [Taylor] was seeking a change, no change occurred” and the letter – which he had not checked the date on – appeared to show a constituent had raised the issue.

“However, having now looked at the letter, it came six months after Angus [Taylor] sought a meeting,” he said. “There is an area of concern in there for me.”

Despite Centre Alliance’s change of heart, the government can continue to block an inquiry if Pauline Hanson’s One Nation and former Liberal Cory Bernardi continue to vote with the Coalition in the Senate.

Bernardi told Guardian Australia he has not had “any representations to me suggesting why I should change my vote”. He said he had “no knowledge” about nor had he seen the letter.

In June a Guardian Australia investigation revealed Taylor met officials from then environment minister Josh 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.

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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.

Patrick said an inquiry would “allow for both sides of table to put facts on the table”.

“The focus is: was Angus Taylor seeking to influence a department on behalf of himself or related parties, or family members. That needs to be explored.”

In the Senate on Thursday Wong said that Taylor obtained the meetings “because he was a cabinet minister”, suggesting that in itself was “corrupt”.

Wong withdrew the word “corrupt” but continued to argue that government members “know this is not kosher” and that Taylor’s conduct was a “gross misuse of public office”.

“The point is that it is a misuse of public office as a cabinet minister to ask for treatment from a colleague in relation to a general policy proposition that is not available to everybody else,” she said.

Wong also accused Taylor of failing to declare his “direct interest” in Jam Land. Taylor has declared his interest in Gufee Pty Ltd – which is a one-third owner of Jam Land – on the register of interests but there is no declaration of Jam Land.