ACT Liberals leader Jeremy Hanson.
- ACT Liberals correct financial returns
- Claims Libs' full debt not reported
- Libs leader coy on debt claims
The Canberra Liberals are battling fresh claims they breached the territory's financial disclosure laws by not reporting the extent of their money woes to electoral authorities.
Days after it was revealed the party failed to declare up to $436,000 in debt to Elections ACT and rank-and-file members, new allegations have emerged that the Liberals' administration supplied inaccurate cash flow statements to the commission.
Senior party figures claim data submitted to Elections ACT incorrectly reported the party received more than $100,000 in 2012-13 than it spent.
The ACT Liberals were forced to submit an amended financial return to the electoral authority this week after Fairfax Media revealed the division's administrative hierarchy had not disclosed a $296,000 secured bank overdraft to the commission. A $140,000 Australia Post debt that the party is disputing was also missing from its 2012-13 declaration.
Two earlier returns signed by former party president Tio Faulkner stated the party was carrying debts of just $47,161.
The division scrambled to submit a new return after publication of allegations the party's first two returns did not match internal accounts kept at its headquarters at 221 London Circuit.
The party's new president and former finance director, Peter Collins, said ''an omission was identified in our return and it has been corrected''.
Mr Collins said the party was working with electoral authorities to comply with its reporting obligations and was ''looking at improvements in our systems''.
But senior members have raised concerns about further anomalies in the division's report to Elections ACT. Cash transactions declared to the commission suggest the ACT Liberal Party received $118,000 more in cash in 2012-13 than it spent. But the party's internal cash flow statements, shown at its November 6 annual meeting, reported $160,000 more left the organisation than was received.
Fairfax Media posed questions about the discrepancy to Mr Faulkner and Mr Collins last week and both men declined to respond. In a text, Mr Faulkner said: ''As I am no longer president of the party, I will no longer be commenting on Liberal Party issues.''
Parliamentary leader Jeremy Hanson also refused to answer questions on the increasingly chaotic state of the party's financials. Mr Hanson, who sits on the division's internal management committee, said questions on account keeping were a ''party matter''.
ACT electoral commissioner Phil Green said the commission was growing increasingly concerned about the state of affairs but ''it's too early to say'' what action it would take as it was still in talks with the division.
Elections ACT will begin its routine audit of the three major parties at the end of this month.
Under ACT law, it is an offence for parties to provide an incomplete or misleading annual return.
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