Rod Culleton: Former One Nation senator loses bid to dump conviction for report failure linked to bankruptcy

Bankrupt former One Nation senator Rod Culleton has lost a bid to overturn a conviction for failing to lodge a report about his financial affairs as his political career was unravelling in early 2017. His appeal to the WA Supreme Court came four years after he waged an unsuccessful legal campaign against bankruptcy orders that ended his short-lived stint as a senator for the State. Rejecting Mr Culleton’s appeal against a 2019 conviction, Justice Gail Archer said his submissions were hard to understand and she described a renewed attack on his original Federal Court bankruptcy sequestration order as “misconceived”. “Mr Culleton has tried, in numerous proceedings, to demonstrate that the sequestration order was invalid,” Justice Archer said. “Each attempt failed.” Mr Culleton won his seat in the 2016 Federal election but his political career was thrown into jeopardy by the collapse of his horse feed company the same yearand his forced bankruptcy over a $208,000 personal liability. He was unable to sit in the Senate as a bankrupt but fought a political campaign against his removal and mounted legal actions throughout 2017 to annul the order. The Federal Court ruled on his bankruptcy in December 2016 but a series of stays dragged the process into the first few months of 2017. The bankruptcy administration agency, the Australian Financial Security Authority, then prosecuted Mr Culleton for failing to lodge a statement of affairs within 14 days of his bankruptcy becoming fully effective on March 16, 2017. He was convicted by Perth Magistrate’s Court in April 2019. His failed defence included that he was given legal advice that he did not have to file a statement of affairs because of ongoing disputes in the courts and Federal Parliament. Justice Archer not only threw out his attempts to recycle this failed defence, she rejected his attempt to introduce new evidence about an Australian Federal Police investigation carried out in 2019 and 2020. The AFP probe was based on a complaint from the Australian Electoral Commission about him nominating to stand in the 2019 Federal election despite still being an undischarged bankrupt. Justice Archer said Mr Culleton’s affidavit relating to the investigation and a email sent by the AFP last year “includes some misleading statements”. His affidavit included a claim that Federal police found the Federal Court original bankruptcy decision of December 2016 “was of no legal effect”. The email, quoted in Justice Archer’s ruling, said AFP officers investigated alleged breaches of Commonwealth Criminal Code rules relating to providing false or misleading information. The AFP said it had examined a “significant volume of material obtained through enquiries, received from the AEC and provided by yourself”. The agency said it had “determined there is insufficient evidence to substantiate any offence has occurred”. Justice Archer said the email did not declare the Federal Court’s December 2016 ruling had no effect. The email was dealing with the criminal code allegations, the judge said. “Plainly, the AFP was not advising Mr Culleton that there was insufficient evidence that he had ever committed any criminal offence,” she said. “The email related solely to the investigation into whether there was evidence that Mr Culleton had made a false or misleading statement or given false or misleading information.” AFSA records show Mr Culleton remains bankrupt.