Wollongong MP Noreen Hay has questioned the timing of Australian Federal Police charges being laid against one of her staff members, who will face allegations of electoral fraud in Wollongong court later this year.
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Last Friday – 18 months after police raided Ms Hay’s Crown Street office – the AFP charged her staffer of nine years, Susan Greenhalgh, prompting Opposition Leader Luke Foley to call for her resignation from her position of Opposition Whip.
In an interview with the Mercury earlier this week, the controversial politician said she was “actually a little bit concerned about the timing of this AFP thing, to be honest”.
“A couple of days ago, I watched on TV the AFP commissioner talking about the raiding of federal people’s offices and then a couple of days later, bang, they’re here,” she said.
“But I’m a political person, I tend to question the timing of everything. I do think the AFP do a good job and I do think they’re diligent, but that doesn’t mean they’re always right.”
Asked about her role in the investigation, Ms Hay said she had never been worried about facing charges during the 12 month investigation.
“Absolutely not. I’m fairly confident, that if the AFP thought I had done something, they would charge me. I’m fairly confident that they do their job diligently,” she said.
“Until last Friday I wasn’t worried about her [Ms Greenhalgh] either.”
Ms Hay said being charged by police did not mean someone was was guilty.
“She tells me she’s done nothing, she got a lawyer and she’s defending it and I believe her. She’s been a long time, good loyal employee, and she’s entitled to be presumed innocent,” Ms Hay said.
“You’ve got to remember, most of our staff are just general, ordinary people trying to earn a buck, trying to pay their bills. It’s tough on them when there’s allegations. My staff are the front line, and they cop it, and it’s not fair on them.”
Ms Hay said she didn’t think her latest bout of controversy would affect her popularity among Wollongong constituents.
“My community, regardless of the bad stories I get, they reelect me every time,” she said.
“No one is fooled by that stuff. This is politics, smear and innuendo goes on all the time. The important thing for me is the ballot box.”
Asked if she planned to be around for the next state election – in 2018 – she said she wanted to “get through what I’m doing at the moment”.
