Newman on Driscoll: It's up to the voters

ALLEGATIONS: Scott Driscoll. Picture: Patrick Hamilton Source: The Australian

PREMIER Campbell Newman has spoken to Redcliffe MP Scott Driscoll over a series of allegations revealed in The Courier Mail, but says it was ultimately up to voters to have their say at the next election.

“I have read some of these stories and I have certainly had a chat to him,’’ Mr Newman told 4BC Radio.

“(I said) what are your answers to these sorts of things and you have seen the answers in the newspaper,’’ he said.

“At the end of the day local electorates and the electors in the electorate get to have their say at the ballot box.

“I just make the point that to date I have only seen things that have happened well and truly prior to him becoming an MP.

“There is no suggestion of police investigations, corporate affairs regulators and I am just sort of looking at it from that point of view.”

The Courier-Mail revealed Mr Driscoll failed to declare to Parliament his interest in two companies, but has described the omission as "an oversight".

Mr Driscoll did not inform Parliament of his directorships at the Outsourcing Council Asia-Pacific Limited (OCAP) and the Australian Small Business Coalition until November.

Mr Driscoll wrote to the Clerk of Parliament Neil Laurie to notify him of the "unintended omition (sic)" and that he had tendered his resignation from both "non-trading" entities.

Both companies are also directed by Bruce Mills, a long-time business and political associate of Mr Driscoll's.

It comes as the industrial advocate acting for the retailers' body that Mr Driscoll formerly headed gave details of the role the MP played in trading hours cases fought by the body last year.

The advocate, Colin Dorber, said he had met Mr Driscoll at his electorate office in Redcliffe in August to negotiate the terms and conditions of his representation of the Queensland Retail Traders and Shopkeepers Association in the Industrial Relations Commission.

"Mr Driscoll directed me in all matters and all inquiries I made I was directed to refer to him," Mr Dorber said.

"My relationship with Mr Driscoll ended in mid-September 2012 when he stopped communicating with me and Mr (Bruce) Mills became my instructing officer."

Mr Driscoll on Tuesday rejected a Courier-Mail story that presented evidence he had directed campaigns for the QRTSA, the bulk of whose funding came from the IGA supermarket network, saying he had had "no operational role" at the body since he was elected in March.

Premier Campbell Newman said he "had no reason not to believe" Mr Driscoll.

The Courier-Mail has obtained an email showing Mr Driscoll used his parliamentary email address in August to discuss with a group of IGA store owners how to complete witness statements to be used as evidence in a trading hours case.

In the email, dated August 17, Mr Driscoll told store owners: "Email me your drafted witness statements direct to this email account as I will obtain them personally."

The QRTSA has been in limbo since September when Mr Driscoll's wife Emma became president and Mr Mills, a long-time friend and business associate of Mr Driscoll's, its secretary.

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