God, money and secrecy — the world of Stuart Robert

This is part four in a series. For the full series, go here.

Scott Morrison’s close personal friendship with Employment Minister Stuart Robert is a brotherly love story like no other in federal politics. 

So what do the two have in common? In short: a love for God, money (plenty of it) and secrecy. But while these traits may be well known in Morrison, Robert has managed to fly under the radar for much of his career.

Here’s a guide to the Robert you never knew.

A vision splendid rising above the Gold Coast

Stuart Robert entered Parliament as the member for the Gold Coast seat of Fadden in 2007, the same year Morrison won his seat. 

Robert had been the director and CEO of a successful IT business and arrived in Canberra a wealthy man. He was also part of a Christian network on the Gold Coast which included Queensland state Liberal MP Rob Molhoek. 

Robert and Molhoek were directors of a venture called Moving Word Pictures which produced animated Bible stories for children, and were partners in the now-deregistered “Heroes Christian Children Foundation”. They also dared to dream: Molhoek spruiked the vision of building the world’s tallest church spire, which would reach more than 160 metres above the Gold Coast and rival the famous Crystal Cathedral of US televangelist Robert Schuller.

The plan was unveiled in 2009 by the Metro Pentecostal church in Southport, a church attended by Robert and Molhoek where Robert’s wife Chantelle was employed as a pastor. Metro, recently rebranded as AIR Church, has remained an important base for Robert. 

The money man

Robert has earned a reputation as a ferocious fundraiser for the Queensland Liberal National Party.  

“Being a fundraiser brings with it a lot of political capital,” Griffith University political scientist Dr Paul Williams told Crikey, “especially with election campaigns being increasingly expensive.”

Robert holds his seat of Fadden with a comfortable margin of 14%. As one party insider explained, this means he is freed up to travel and attend functions outside his electorate rather than spend time saving his own seat. These two factors make Robert a valuable and powerful force within the Liberal machine, whatever the broader public might make of him and his propensity for scandal.

The question is, what does he do with his party influence?

While there is little or no transparency on where the money goes within political parties, in Robert’s case the answer is at least partially known. He puts his money into building his conservative Christian faction.

Conservative Christian politicians have long played an important role in Queensland. According to Williams, the faction is a dominant force in the Queensland LNP executive and wielded its power during the 2018 debate on abortion legislation in Queensland, exposing a deep faultline in the party. 

The secret funding used to further Robert’s agenda

In 2016 Robert sailed close to the wind on how he uses donations from Liberal Party backers.

Robert gave generous financial backing to two of his electorate office staff who ran for office at the Gold Coast City council elections. 

Though both long-term Robert staffers, the two women ran as independents rather than under the Liberal Party banner. It later emerged that Robert had arranged for both of them to be given $30,000 towards their campaigns — a massive boost compared to candidates who were paying out of their own pockets. Other candidates were deeply suspicious about on-the-ground help Robert’s staffers received.

“You could see it at the polling booths on the day,” said independent candidate Barry van Peppen. “There were teams of helpers at the booths and they were being rotated five at a time every hour. Throughout the campaign you could see that there were huge amounts of money being thrown around.”

Van Peppen runs a mobile disco and DJ entertainment business. In a council where property development is always a major issue he ran because, in his words, he wanted to make a difference.

“Am I disillusioned? You bet I am,” he told Crikey. “It became a council election for the person who had the most money.” 

The council election was so on the nose that a year later the Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) held open hearings into how candidates were funded.   

Robert — by then a backbencher, having fallen foul of Malcolm Turnbull’s ministerial standards over a conflict of interest — gave evidence that the money he provided to his staffers-turned-candidates had come from an organisation called the Fadden Forum.  

The CCC characterised the Fadden Forum as “a networking group” and the name given to “a segment of an LNP bank account” where Robert banked money “obtained from fundraising activities”. 

Robert, who established the forum, told the commission that the cost of membership was between $10,000 and $50,000 per year. This enabled members to “attend functions and network with other business people on the Gold Coast”.

Ultimately the CCC found no evidence that Robert had breached electoral laws. But the episode left plenty of questions unanswered.

“I just want to know where the money came from,” former candidate Eddy Sarroff told Crikey. “I shake my head when I think how those candidates were able to get away with their claims of being independent when they had substantial Liberal Party support.”

A confidential source inside the LNP told Crikey that “of course” the Fadden Forum was “a slush fund” which Robert used to further his influence and power in the party.  

“And for most, local council is a stepping stone to federal and state politics,” they said.

In the wash-up, former Robert staffer Kristyn Boulton made it onto the council. Her funding declaration revealed that donations had also come from Robert’s old Metro Church friend and partner Molhoek.

Cash for parliamentary comment

Robert was accused of using talking points provided by a lobbyist for Gold Coast developer Sunland to defend the company in Parliament. Sunland was alleged to have wrongly accused Australian businessman Marcus Lee and two others of criminal activity, leaving Lee to his fate in a Dubai prison. Lee was ultimately acquitted of all charges. 

Upon his return to Australia, Lee applied to the House of Representative’s Committee of Privileges and Members’ Interests for a right of reply to Robert’s conduct. The committee granted Lee that right and allowed for a statement prepared by Lee to be incorporated into Hansard.

Sunland later donated money to the Liberal Party, though Robert denied any link. Robert has never apologised for spruiking Sunland’s case in Parliament against the interests of innocent Australian citizens

Big spending

In late 2018 Robert said he had repaid $37,975.00 in taxpayer funds which he had claimed for home internet use.

Robert was also forced to repay more than $1600 for a taxpayer-funded trip he took in 2013 to a north Queensland gold mine in which he held a financial stake. The mine was linked to his friend and Liberal Party donor Paul Marks.  Robert conceded he held a “very minor” stake in the company, Evolution Mining, which was running the mine.

Next: The blind trust is no guarantee of honesty in government.