WATTLE Range Mayor Peter Gandolfi has declined to comment on claims Federal Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne approached him by phone on June 22, 2013 to stand as an independent against endorsed Liberal Tony Pasin for the seat of Barker.
The claim made front page news in national newspaper The Australian yesterday and has been denied by Mr Pyne.
The minister is currently overseas and The South Eastern Times has sought a comment from his office.
According to The Australian, Mr Pyne responded to its claim by stating that he had never suggested to anyone they should run against the Liberal Party.
A spokesperson for Mr Pasin told this newspaper that he would not elaborate on comments he provided to The Australian and they had been reported accurately.
Mr Pasin said he had become aware of the claims earlier this year.
“The person who told me said ‘mate, I’m about to tell you something that is going to rock your world’,” he said
“The person expected me to be shocked,” Mr Pasin said.
“Sadly, I wasn’t shocked because I have witnessed attempts to damage career prospects of young conservatives over a long period of time.
“I have become all too familiar with this kind of Machiavellian behaviour.”
In his role as Leader of the House, Mr Pyne is responsible for the allocation of questions asked of ministers by Coalition MPs.
Mr Pasin said Mr Pyne had not given him a single question to ask during question time for a number of months.
“I had a crack at Pyne at the first party room meeting after it was reported he had gloated about being in the ‘winner’s circle’ on same-sex marriage,” he said.
“I got up and said, ‘prime minister, what this points to is there are people in this room who are making your life difficult.
“If we really want to be in the winner’s circle we need to support you.”
Mr Pasin comes from the conservative wing of the Liberal Party while Mr Pyne heads the moderate faction in South Australia.
The seat of Barker has long been a conservative stronghold with Mr Pasin winning preselection over long-time incumbent and fellow conservative Liberal Patrick Secker in 2012.
Mr Pasin won the 2013 election and was not opposed in Liberal Party preselection for his second term which began last year.
Mr Secker left politics in the following year but was subsequently appointed by the incoming Abbott Coalition Government to the Foreign Investment Review Board.
He is currently one of its longest-serving members.
Mr Gandolfi has had a long involvement with the Liberal Party but was not a party member at the time in question in mid-2013.
His official mayoral communications for the time listed his various official mayoral duties as well as strong criticism of the Labor State Government and its funding of the Millicent-based South Eastern Water Conservation and Drainage Board.
