Nalder's China crisis
Premier Colin Barnett has widened a review of Dean Nalder's business interests to examine whether the minister misused his position by accompanying his business partner in a $10 million property company to a meeting with the Chinese consul-general in Perth.
The August 11 delegation, which included high-level State bureaucrats as well as bankers from Mr Nalder's former employer ANZ, yesterday became the latest in a series of conflict of interests controversies to dog the Transport and Finance Minister.
Opposition Leader Mark McGowan, who had been calling for an independent inquiry into Mr Nalder's entwined business and ministerial activities, stepped up his attack to demand the minister's resignation.
Mr Barnett launched the Department of Premier and Cabinet review on Friday after _The West Australian _ queried Mr Nalder's part-ownership of a car-leasing company targeting public servants through salary packaging deals.
The newspaper also revealed yesterday that in June, three months after Mr Nalder joined Cabinet, he made a $400,000 investment in property company Metier Asia Pty Ltd, which is targeting Chinese markets.
Two of Mr Nalder's ministerial advisers, transport policy officer Sarah Boska and acting chief of staff Richard Newton, are minority shareholders in a trust company that also ploughed $600,000 into Metier Asia.
Ms Boska and Metier Asia chief executive Darryll Ashworth accompanied Mr Nalder to the August 11 meeting with consul-general Huang Qinguo, which Mr Nalder said yesterday was a "private dinner" and "not a formal meeting".
"There was nothing discussed about the State," he said.
"It was a private dinner with the consul-general."
A report of the meeting on the consulate's website refers to Mr Nalder's ministerial position and canvasses discussions about co-operation between the countries on infrastructure, agriculture and tourism.
Mr Nalder confirmed that he was invited by the consulate through his ministerial office.
"I understand that the consul-general issued invitations to other people," he said.
"It was valuable for the new consul-general to meet a range of West Australians with insights into Australia-China relations.
"The dinner conversation included a broad range of topics."
The meeting also included Department of Agriculture and Food director-general Rob Delane and Department of State Development boss Steve Wood, who confirmed yesterday that he went in his official capacity.
A spokeswoman said the private business interests of Mr Nalder and Mr Ashworth were not raised in Mr Wood's presence.
Other attendees included ANZ institutional banking chief Cathryn Carver and resources banker Jonathan Bloch.
Mr Ashworth said the investment by Mr Nalder had helped Metier Asia build a financial base to work from after winning contracts in countries including Malaysia and China.
He said Mr Nalder's investment was purely a financial arrangement and not to build the influence of the Metier group.
Mr Ashworth could not recall who invited him to the meeting at the Chinese consulate and was not sure if it could be classified as private or official business.
Mr McGowan said the meeting was one of the most blatant abuses of position he had encountered in politics.
"Mr Nalder had a meeting with the Chinese consul-general with the CEO of one of his companies," he said.
"Mr Ashworth wouldn't be able to get in to see the Chinese consul but for Mr Nalder's position."
Yesterday morning, before details of the Chinese delegation surfaced, Mr Barnett said Mr Nalder was a "very decent person, an honest person" whom he had full confidence in.
