Anthony Albanese's office circulated a dirt sheet to journalists baselessly raising questions about Helen Haines' integrity after she criticised a $6million government grant allocated to the Prime Minister's local golf course.
asserted
she → circulate → course
Albanese's team sent the document to select parliamentary press gallery reporters about a month before Haines was seriously injured in an alleged attack outside her Wangaratta office on Monday afternoon.
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Haines → send → afternoon
Haines was airlifted to Melbourne's The Alfred Hospital and is in a critical condition after 43-year-old Brendan Nugent allegedly rammed the MP against her car with his Toyota LandCruiser, reversed, and drove into her a second time.
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Nugent → airlift → her
In the wake of the incident, Albanese called for a lowering of the political temperature, praised Haines's integrity and issued a warning against unjustified attacks on politicians' motives.
‘I do always agree that her motives are good,’ the Prime Minister told ABC’s 7:30 on Monday night.
But just weeks ago, Albanese's office circulated a document - bearing the name of the PM's deputy director of communications - that raises questions about the standard of the government's own contributions to political debate in Australia.
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that → call → Australia
The document, obtained by the Daily Mail, attempted to smear Haines by cataloguing her own funding requests for her electorate and asking if she may have had personal connections to recipients of Federal government funding.
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she → obtain → funding
For instance, it asked whether Haines had received undeclared wine or food from local businesses, held business interests, received political donations or had personal associations with businesses that could benefit from government tourism funding.
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that → ask → funding
Independent MP Helen Haines was outspoken about pork barrelling in federal politics after it was revealed that the Albanese government handed Marrickville Golf Club a $6million grant
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese praised Helen Haines for her integrity on Monday evening.
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Albanese → reveal → evening
His office circulated a document to journalists smearing her just weeks ago
The document contained no proof of wrongdoing whatsoever but suggested avenues for reporters to look into about Haines after she had become outspoken about government pork barrelling, calling for greater transparency from the government.
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she → circulate → government
The document, obtained by the Daily Mail, targeted Haines over her advocacy for projects in her northern Victorian electorate of Indi.
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document → obtain → Indi
For instance, it asked if Haines had ever visited the Benalla Art Gallery where she had requested $8million for a redevelopment project.
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she → ask → project
'Given she has pushed for funding for this project, has the Member for Indi ever visited, been a member of, donated to, or have any personal or professional connection with any of the employees or Board of Benalla Art Gallery?' the document said.
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document → give → Gallery
For a local recreation centre upgrade, it asked whether she had played or trained with local sporting clubs, watched games or received jerseys or equipment.
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she → ask → jerseys
The document also highlighted how she had received Mount Buller ski lift passes for herself and her spouse alongside her subsequent requests for resort infrastructure funding.
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she → highlight → funding
It supplied no evidence of undisclosed wrongdoing.
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It → supply → wrongdoing
When the document was brought to her attention at the time, Haines told the Daily Mail she had not previously seen it, adding: ‘They are pretty desperate.
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They → bring → it
She explained that her annual budget submissions were public documents advocating for local projects put forward by councils, regional development officials and community organisations.
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submissions → explain → councils
‘I’m proud of it,’ she said.
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she → ’m → it
Haines also drew a distinction between requesting funding from officials and having the power to allocate it, as the Albanese government does.
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government → draw → it
She said she could not ‘fix a grant program’ to deliver the projects she advocated for, which was why she sought specialist competitive grants programs, including for regional hospitals.
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she → say → hospitals
Speaking on the ABC last night, Albanese repeatedly praised Haines’s character.
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Albanese → speak → character
Extracts from the dirt sheet circulated to members of the federal parliamentary press gallery.
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Extracts → circulate → gallery
It asked questions about Haines' interests - but provided no answers
The Prime Minister is pictured, with dog Toto, at Marrickville Golf Club, for a separate canine's birthday party
‘There’s a reason why Helen Haines is so loved and admired, because she’s someone of integrity,’ he said.
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he → ask → integrity
Asked what she meant to him, he again answered: ‘Integrity.’
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he → ask → Integrity
He described her as passionate about her community and said she was always worth listening to, even when they disagreed.
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they → describe → community
The Microsoft Word document smearing Haines records ‘Lloyd, Joshua’ as both its creator and last editor.
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document → smear → creator
Its company field lists the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and its creation date is September 10, the day after the Haines statement quoted in the document.
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date → list → document
Metadata records the information stored in a file’s properties, but does not conclusively establish who wrote or authorised its contents, and the Daily Mail does not suggest otherwise.
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Mail → record → contents
Such details can carry over from templates or be changed.
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details → carry → templates
Under an all-capital heading, the document noted Haines had requested more than $1.8billion for projects across two budget submissions.
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Haines → note → submissions
It placed those requests alongside her September 9 criticism that Australians were increasingly fed up with a ‘self-serving political establishment’ and that pork barrelling undermined trust in democracy.
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barrelling → place → democracy
The document questioned the projects’ value for money and the due diligence behind their selection before raising questions about her personal connections.
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document → question → connections
On Monday night, Albanese said political differences should be debated respectfully.
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differences → say → night
‘They shouldn’t be the subject of personal rancour and the calling into people’s motivation where it’s not appropriate to do so.’
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it → ’ → motivation
He also criticised the ‘contest for clicks’ and called for more nuance and less shouting.
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He → criticise → nuance
His government has previously faced questions about its own rhetoric.
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government → face → rhetoric
At Queensland’s Labor conference on August 30, Albanese described hard-right populists’ politics as ‘dangerous, divisive, and downright dishonest’, before specifically attacking One Nation.
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Albanese → describe → Nation
When Pauline Hanson subsequently said his remarks had left her feeling unsafe, Attorney-General Michelle Rowland suggested she examine whether her own party, ideology and behaviour were encouraging the danger.
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party → say → danger
Rowland also condemned threats across politics and explicitly rejected wishing Hanson physical harm.
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Rowland → condemn → harm
Albanese said on Monday that the motivation for the incident involving Haines remained unknown and should not be prejudged.
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motivation → say → Haines
‘She’s just a thoroughly decent, respectful human being who is a delight to work with and her presence in the Parliament adds to it.’
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presence → ’ → it
…and 1 more, not listed.
The Aporia
