Labor has asked for an investigation of the government's small business roadshow program, amid allegations public servants are being required to attend partisan political events held in predominantly Coalition electorates.
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Shadow small business minister Katy Gallagher has written to Public Service Commissioner John Lloyd and Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet boss Martin Parkinson asking for a review of the program's appropriateness after 27 of the 30 roadshow events held since February took place in Liberal and National-held seats.
Small Business Minister Michael McCormack, a NSW Nationals MP, has so far held just two of the roadshow events in Labor seats, with one taking place in independent MP Cathy McGowan's seat of Indi. Senator Gallagher said Mr McCormack hasn't invited any Labor members and has been accompanied by Coalition MPs at events in Labor seats.
Senior public servants from agencies including the Tax Office, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and the Australian Small Business Ombudsman have taken part in the events, ostensibly organised to receive feedback from small businesses but sometimes appearing to stray into political debate.
Last month Guardian Australia reported backbench Liberal MP Sarah Henderson used an event listing for the roadshow to boast about Coalition tax cuts and claim Labor had no plans for job creation or growing the economy.
"I support the concept of a small business roadshow program," Senator Gallagher wrote last week.
"However, like any program run by the public service it should be non-partisan. This program does not appear to meet that standard.
"These are either political events, in which case, public servants should not be involved, or public service events, in which case, there should be a policy rationale supporting the locations chosen and the relevant local MPs should be invited regardless of party."
She said Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's statement of ministerial standards required ministers to only use public servants for "appropriate public purposes" and noted Treasury officials had been unable to tell Senate estimates hearings in May which part of the government had met the cost of roadshow events.
A spokesman for Mr McCormack said the roadshow brought "experts and policymakers from government agencies" to meet small business owners and operators, receiving questions, feedback and ideas.
"Having run his own small business in country NSW for eight years before he was elected to Parliament, the minister felt it was important to start in the regions, because regional people have often not had the same access to different government agencies as small businesses in the cities do.
"More than 20 visits from the first part of the roadshow have been to regional areas, which are predominantly represented by Liberal and National members of Parliament. The remaining visits were scheduled around speeches, official engagements, logistics or availability."
The spokesman said Mr McCormack was the first regional MP appointed as Small Business Minister, and said he intends to visit as many electorates as possible.
"Eighty electorates have been visited or are scheduled for visits so far for the period since the Minister's appointment to end-October 2017.
"There are a number of pre-existing plans in place to visit Labor, Green and independent seats, subject to schedules and availability," the spokesman said.
