What will haunt Nationals candidate Kevin Hogan during the 2013 federal election campaign?

 

In September 2011 The Sydney Morning Herald reported this:

 

The disgraced state MP Steve Cansdell resigned from Parliament days after a former staff member complained to the corruption watchdog that he misused a parliamentary entitlement to help a Nationals colleague, Kevin Hogan, contest the federal seat of Page.

 

It is over three months since The Sydney Morning Herald further reported:

 

Allegations that the former NSW MP Steve Cansdell rorted a staff allowance to benefit a Nationals colleague were referred by corruption authorities to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly a year ago but not investigated.

 

Last month the same newspaper stated:

 

After that Hancock, who is also the Liberal member for South Coast, promised that parliamentary officers would ''review the material'' sent by the ICAC. This included a spreadsheet containing the dates on which Palmer alleged Cansdell submitted claims for the allowance that differed from the days she worked. That was last October.

What has happened since then? Hancock passed the matter to the executive manager of the Department of Parliamentary Services, Rob Stefanic, who responded that he was ''unable to reach any conclusions regarding the veracity of the claims made by the former electorate officer''.

 

Now the O’Farrell Government, along with the state and federal Liberal and National parties may think they have managed to brazened this matter out. Kevin Hogan may think he is no longer involved as the 2010 federal election campaign is long past.

 

Perhaps they should think again. It’s an open secret that there was more than one MP and one worker involved in alleged rorting and more than one election involved.

 

The exact date that the second MP’s staffer allegedly began working for Cansdell on his own re-election campaign is well known in the electorate – and not just by word of mouth.

 

The NSW North Coast Nationals appear to have turned staff swapping in election campaigns into an art, along with keeping allegedly dubious indirect political donation records.

So what else might be found out about serial candidates like Kevin Hogan if the delving goes deep enough?