Lyne MP Dr David Gillespie says he is delighted with the unanimous decision by the High Court, derailing Labor’s attempt to challenge his election to the Australian Parliament.
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Last July, Labor’s Peter Alley launched the High Court challenge, which could have endangered the Turnbull government’s lower house majority.
On Wednesday, March 21, the full bench of the High Court unanimously ruled that Labor's method for bringing the challenge against Dr Gillespie's eligibility - via a private citizen through the Common Informers Act - was illegitimate.
At the time of the 2016 election, Dr Gillespie owned a shopping complex In Port Macquarie and one of the shops was being leased to a franchisee of Australia Post – a government-owned corporation. Dr Gillespie has since sold the post office.
“I thought when I stood for Parliament and was elected by the community, I would be fighting for my constituents, not fighting unmeritorious, expensive and wasteful litigation in the courts,” said Dr Gillespie after the court decision on Wednesday, March 21.
“To the many people, including members and supporters of The Nationals, Liberal, Labor and the Greens, who have delivered messages of goodwill to me and my family since Mr Alley launched this despicable and wasteful legal campaign against my election, thank you,” he said.
“To the people of Lyne and the many community groups, organisations, councils, key stakeholders and other individuals I have been working closely with to secure funding and deliver more infrastructure for our area since 2013 and since my re-election in 2016, thank you.”
I thought when I stood for Parliament and was elected by the community, I would be fighting for my constituents, not fighting unmeritorious, expensive and wasteful litigation in the courts.
- Dr David Gillespie
Dr Gillespie, who is the Minister for Families and Children, said he has worked hard since last year’s election, and will continue to do so, adding that he would leave it up to Peter Alley to explain to the people of Lyne why he chose to play personal politics and challenge their judgement.
“It has also been a wasteful, inappropriate and costly to the tax payer litigation, which has in addition also cost me financially and me and my family emotionally,” added Dr Gillespie.
Peter Alley said he was disappointed by the decision.
“There is however still a cloud hanging over the question of David Gillespie’s eligibility and he can resolve it by walking into the Parliament and referring himself to the High Court," Mr Alley said.
“I don’t accept that the court case was wasteful. The Attorney-General considered that it was a case of public interest and decided to fund it,” he added.