THE office of a third-party campaign group dedicated to ousting the Nationals from regional NSW has been raided, with the organisation pointing the finger at their arch rivals.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
However, the NSW Nationals have hosed down the suggestion they had anything to do with the investigation by the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC).
Anyone But Nats co-founder Rohan Boehm said the raid was “bizarre” and “totally unheralded”.
“It’s strange for them to suddenly rock up and decided to do raids on books after being assured through the normal channels everything was in order,” Mr Boehm said.
While he had no evidence of political influence, he could “hardly imagine any other reason”.
“Particularly given our books are completely up to date, with all disclosures made on time,” he said.
“We were told there had been complaints, but not by who nor what nature.”
It’s believed two other candidates in western NSW were also investigated by AEC around the same time.
NSW Nationals state director Ross Cadell said his party was “totally at arms length” from the AEC.
“The first we knew about any investigation or compliance was when we were asked by a journalist yesterday,” Mr Cadell said.
“We get investigated from time to time and get requests for information regularly. It’s part of living in this space.”
The Guardian reported AEC officers said they investigating Anyone But Nats after a Guardian article on 24 October that stated his family had donated $20,000 to fund 400 advertising spots across regional television stations.
An AEC spokesperson said the organisation would not comment on specific compliance matters or whether it was investigating a matter.
Anyone But Nats has been focused solely on the upcoming NSW elections, but Mr Boehm said the raid had prompted the group to widen it’s focus to a federal level, including New England MP Barnaby Joyce’s seat.
“We figured the state election was a good way to restore some balance and get some decent politicians in there, people interested in the people, not just the party,” Mr Boehm said.
“We know the same situation applies at a federal level. We’ll give it a good swing in regional NSW and anywhere else communities want to rise up against the Nationals.
“We’ll be setting up a federal donations page before Christmas.”