GOLD CORPORATION —
AUSTRAC AUDIT
557. Mr R.S. LOVE to the Minister for Mines and Petroleum:
I refer to questions I asked of the
minister in budget estimates in May and revelations in The West Australian
of 8 September, which allege that Gold
Corporation may be liable for an unlimited sum with respect to possible
breaches of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing
Act 2006.
(1) For how long
did Gold Corporation conduct transfers without appropriate remittance service
provider registration?
(2) As minister
responsible, was this issue brought to his attention or was anyone in his
office made aware of this potentially criminal failure in process prior to the
publication of this article; and, if not, why not?
(3) Did the minister arrogantly mislead the house
during estimates when he said that the Australian Transaction Reports
and Analysis Centre was meant to be coming last year when board papers show
clearly that AUSTRAC did visit in 2021 and Gold Corporation was aware and
involved, and was the minister notified by the board?
Mr W.J.
JOHNSTON replied:
(1)–(3) I
will go to the question of misleading the house. I have reviewed the Hansard.
No, I am not required to make any correction because the information I provided
in estimates was entirely accurate.
The next thing I will go to is the
question about seeking approval for registration that the member described in
the first part of his question. That was done by Gold Corporation in March 2021
during the caretaker period of government. That means that the entire time that
I have been the responsible minister, Gold Corporation was in compliance with
the law.
In respect of the period prior to
that, it is true that Gold Corporation did not tell the government that it was
not registered in the appropriate way. That meant that the former minister, the
Premier, was never informed of the failure of Gold Corp to deal with this
matter. I am also advised that the matter that the audit is currently going on
is not related to that particular aspect.
I
just want to let the member know a few things. I have reviewed the audit report
of Gold Corporation and at no time did the audit report ever draw attention to
the matters that have now subsequently come to light. This is the point that
the member should understand in respect of the article in The West Australian:
it misunderstood what had occurred in March 2021. The article referred to the
anti–money laundering and counterterrorism audit being done currently
by AUSTRAC, which is a very serious matter. If any failings are demonstrated by
that audit, action must be taken by Gold Corporation because we must make sure
that it complies with the law.
I met with the Auditor General—I
am trying to find the time line—not long after I took on the portfolio.
She and I discussed the matters related to AUSTRAC. Subsequently, she again
spoke to me and told me that she did not expect that—I think that these
were the words she used—any matter would blow up. That is what I said to the member on the day. If the
member remembers, at the time when I answered his questions in the
estimates hearings, I said that if he had any questions about the information
that I had provided to him, he should reach out to the Auditor General, who is
independent of government. He does not need to make an appointment through my
office; he can reach out to her directly. I am interested to know whether the
member took up that opportunity to speak to the Auditor General —
Mr R.S. Love: You are asking
me questions, minister. I'm not going to reveal conversations I have
held with other people.
Mr W.J. JOHNSTON: — because if the member has
any questions in relation to the audit performance by the Auditor General, let
me make it clear: the Auditor General's job is to provide independent
assurance around the operations of government trading enterprises to this
Parliament. I do not interfere in her independence. I have read the commentary
from the current Auditor General and previous Auditors General in respect of
the tabled reports in this chamber, and at no time were these matters raised in
those reports.