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Five Upper House crossbenchers have lent their support to calls for a Corruption and Crime Commission investigation into allegations Labor donors were given preferential treatment when applying for border passes during the early days of the pandemic.
In a letter to CCC boss John McKechnie, Legalise Cannabis MPs Brian Walker and Sophia Moermond, Green Brad Pettitt, Daylight Savings Party MP Wilson Tucker and independent James Hayward backed a “detailed, wide-ranging and full resourced investigation” into the explosive claims.
Sanja Spasojevic, a former electorate officer for Deputy Premier Roger Cook, alleged she was directed by the then Health Minister to fast-track G2G applications between April and June 2020 from Labor roundtable members, who had paid for access to senior government politicians.
WA Police were responsible for administering the G2G pass system but Ms Spasojevic claimed to have been given a contact in the office of then Police Minister Michelle Roberts to facilitate the scheme.
All of the allegations came under oath during her testimony before the Public Service Appeal Board as part of an unfair dismissal hearing earlier this month.
“We have become aware of media reports relating to a former electorate officer who has made serious allegations of systemic corruption relating to G2G pass administration during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the inappropriate and unethical use of taxpayer monies by a political party,” the five crossbenchers wrote in their letter to Mr McKechnie.
“The allegations reported by the media include claims that G2G pass applications from political party donors were treated differently than those from the public, which is of great concern to us as members of Parliament, as well as the general public.
“We believe a detailed, wide-ranging and fully resourced investigation by the Corruption and Crime Commission in relation to the matters outlined above is clearly in the public interest.”
Dr Walker said his colleague Ms Moermond had been impacted by the strict travel rules during WA’s period behind a closed border when she was unable to facilitate travel to the State from her recently hired electorate officer.
“Multiple G2G (applications) and calls to minister and police did not permit the essential worker to travel despite complete vaccination and preparedness to isolate,” Dr Walker said.
“I was prepared to accept the rules, but to see the allegation – under oath – of rules being flouted just makes me angry.
“It hurt us and so many people in WA, so that I cannot just let the accusation just die down under the focus of Labor staffers minimising and controlling the narrative.”
Both Mr Cook and Premier Mark McGowan have denied the claims, which were first referred to the CCC by Opposition Leader Mia Davies.
“That’s totally and utterly incorrect,” Mr McGowan said last week.
“With all of those matters, they were referred to police and police manage those matters.”
The Premier said it was common during the pandemic for “every MP, all parties” to receive requests relating to G2G passes and the standard response was to simply forward the correspondence to WA Police.
