COKER’S LINK TO SECRET RICH LIST
Corangamite MP’s husband connected to protected company
FOR more than a quarter of a century, corporation law has protected the financial interests of Australia’s uber-rich from prying eyes.
Exemptions mean these companies don’t lodge financial reports with the corporate watchdog ASIC. Today the Geelong Advertiser can reveal Labor MP Libby Coker’s link to this secret rich list.
CORANGAMITE Labor MP Libby Coker is connected to a secret rich list company that has been exempt from financial scrutiny since 1995 because of law reform protecting the financial interests of Australian billionaires.
The company, Selpam Australia, is one of about 1000 others including those linked to trucking magnate Lindsay Fox, cardboard king Anthony Pratt and Westfield co-founder Frank Lowy.
Corporate records reveal Ms Coker’s spouse, Andrew Hugh Corrie-Smith, has been a director of AKAS Pty Ltd since 2015.
AKAS owns 1.7 million shares in Selpam Australia.
Both companies are listed on Ms Coker’s publicly available Register of Members’ Interests.
The Labor Party tried, but failed, to shut the loophole – which exempts the companies, known as grandfathered large proprietary companies, from lodging financial records and reports with the corporate regulator ASIC – during the most recent term of federal parliament.
Debate on Labor’s motion was repeatedly voted down by the Coalition.
On Tuesday, Ms Coker did not respond when asked to explain the function and purpose of AKAS and Selpam Australia; if Selpam Australia or any of its related entities had made donations to the Labor Party; and if she was re-elected, would she vote to remove the cloak of invisibility that protects grandfathered companies. Eight hours after questions were submitted, a Labor Party spokesman said: “Unfortunately we will not be able to accommodate your request at this time.”
ASIC told parliament in 2015 a lack of publicly available financial reports for the grandfathered companies “reduces transparency about possible indicators of tax avoidance or tax minimisation”.
Corporate records show Selpam Australia was an “exempt proprietary company” as of this week, and was a “large proprietary company” after December 1995.
Large proprietary companies are protected under corporations law because of reforms presided over by then Labor prime minister Paul Keating.
South Australian independent senator Rex Patrick, who has tried on three occasions, but failed, to change the law to abolish the exemption for large proprietary companies, said it was time for the loophole to be scrapped.
“The parliament should be doing the right thing by removing this carve-out.
“It creates an inequality... but it also permits more aggressive tax evasion because others can’t look into the accounts, and top-level financial information, to get at least some assessment.
“The core of the problem is that the parliament allows this temporary invention (brought in 1995) to continue.
“If I’m re-elected then I will continue to seek to get rid of the exemption. Labor has voted for it in the Senate, so have the Greens.
“One would presume if Labor were in government, and controlled the House of Representatives, they would support (removing the exemption).”
One parliamentary source told the Geelong Advertiser the protection given to Selpam Australia, and other companies like it, was “deeply concerning”.
Another source said those with exemptions needed privacy.
The Geelong Advertiser can also reveal Ms Coker, her spouse and a company of which he is the director have interest in more than 10ha of beachfront land at Aireys Inlet.
Ms Coker’s Register of Members’ Interests lists landholding at Aireys Inlet, and the family’s trust, which “holds an interest” in the Aireys Pub.