Victoria’s Assistant Treasurer has been accused of a “serious conflict of interest” over shares he holds in the Commonwealth Bank.
State parliament’s register of interests shows Danny Pearson has held the shares since entering parliament in 2014, meaning he held them when he announced a new three-bank panel to deliver Victoria’s banking and financial services in August 2021.
The new arrangement, including the Commonwealth Bank, Westpac and NAB, replaced a contract with Westpac which had been worth an estimated $120m a year.
Distancing Mr Pearson from the decision in response to questions from The Australian on Monday, the Andrews government said he had “merely noted the outcome of the tender” when he announced it, and was “not a decision maker” in the process.
“The minister was not a decision maker in this process – he merely noted the outcome of the tender as determined by the department,” the spokeswoman said.
“The process was run by senior independent public servants and there was a probity auditor engaged throughout, who signed off on the process.”
The revelation comes after NSW Liberal Damien Tudehope was forced to resign on Friday, after it was revealed he had failed to disclose his family’s superannuation portfolio included shares in toll road giant Transurban, which owns the majority of Sydney and Melbourne’s toll roads.
Victorian Treasurer
Tim Pallas divested himself of an ASX top 20 share portfolio in 2019, after
The Australian revealed it included shares in Transurban. The company stands to make $37.3bn in extra tolls from Victorian motorists in exchange for investing $4bn in the Andrews government’s West Gate Tunnel, under a deal personally brokered by Mr Pallas.