Attorney general says Liberals intended to buy bus from Australian Transit Group, linked to former WA minister Joe Francis

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Christian Porter says the Liberal party had agreed to purchase three campaign buses from a Western Australian company managed by ex-state Liberal politician Joe Francis months before he appointed Francis to a lucrative government-funded position.

Porter has denied claims that Francis provided the buses – one of which has been earmarked for his campaign – for free, but said the purchase agreement was timed to take place before the federal election, meaning the transaction has not yet been completed.

Francis, who lost his seat at the 2017 election, was appointed to the $244,000-a-year, seven-year posting at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) along with 13 other former Coalition MPs and staffers last week.

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Thirty other people, including the former Labor MP David Cox, were also appointed.

Francis was the chief executive of bus company Australian Transit Group when that company agreed to provide three buses to the Liberal party of Western Australia, the West Australian reported. The buses were covered in campaign material and deployed to three marginal seats – including Porter’s seat of Pearce.

Porter told Perth radio station 6PR on Monday he had nothing to do with the deal, which was struck between the bus company and the WA Liberal party, and that he had not discussed the issue with Francis directly.

He said the buses were provided under a “commercial arrangement” and would be bought by the party before the federal election.

“I think there’s a suggestion that it’s free or a donation,” Porter said. “It’s neither of those things, it’s a commercial arrangement where the bus is going to be purchased. It’s being used at the moment as part of the campaign, including my own, but it’s a commercial arrangement.”

He said an invoice for the buses would be issued before the federal election, which is expected to be held in May.

Porter said the Liberal party had had a relationship with the bus company “for some time and has purchased buses before”.

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“There were three buses that were otherwise going to be disposed of by the company and they reached a relationship with the Liberal party to purchase it,” Porter said.

He said the bus shown on the front page of the West Australian on Monday, which has been parked on Wanneroo Road – a major arterial road in Perth that runs through his electorate – was not part of this arrangement but had been purchased separately from the former state Liberal MP Murray Cowper, who had used it as his campaign bus.

A spokeswoman from the Australian Transit Group told Guardian Australia the buses had not been supplied on a complimentary basis and that the Liberal party of WA had been invoiced for them.

“Our company has a commercial arrangement with the Liberal party in relation to the supply of the buses,” she said. “It was decided last year that it would be more cost-effective if they purchased the buses.”

She would not clarify who currently held the title on the buses, but said: “They certainly weren’t supplied free of charge, they were invoiced for them.”

Porter also defended the decision to appoint Francis and other former Coalition MPs and staffers to the AAT roles, saying it was “not unusual” for AAT appointees to have a background in politics and that the current crop were selected to reflect “community values” on migration decisions.

The Coalition ordered a review into the AAT last year after the home affairs minister, Peter Dutton, criticised the tribunal for overturning visa decisions.

“My personal thoughts about this last range of AAT appointments is I was very keen to get people who would reflect community values in migration decisions,” Porter said.

