Shalailah Medhora Monday 16 March 2015
ABC’s Four Corners program has obtained message sent by federal Liberal party treasurer using the description and asking for Credlin’s removal
The federal Liberal party treasurer described Credlin in a text message as the ‘horsewoman of the apocalypse” with ‘black robes flowing’. Photograph: Alan Porritt/AAP
Tony Abbott’s chief of staff, Peta Credlin, has been described as a “horsewoman of the apocalypse” as further leaks emerge from within the Liberal party executive.
ABC’s Four Corners program has obtained a text message sent from federal Liberal party treasurer Philip Higginson to a senior party figure, in which he describes Credlin as the “horsewoman of the apocalypse” with “black robes flowing”.
The text message continues: “I do hope you can negotiate the removal of Credlin. That would be a huge win in itself,” the ABC reports.
A leaked email from earlier this year shows Higginson had sent an email outlining his concerns that Credlin’s marriage with the Liberal party director, Brian Loughnane, could create a conflict of interest.
“I am overwhelmed daily by the sheer vitriol, and pent-up animosities, and enmities that exist, and we are all personally affected by it and contributing to it, the longer the conflict of interest exists,” Higginson wrote in the email, which was leaked late last month.
He also raised concerns about financial transparency of the party’s accounts.
Higginson, a close friend of the prime minister, wrote in the text message that he was “refusing to sign the 2013/14 accounts”, though he later did sign off on them. He foreshadows blowback from within the party from his actions.
“Stay tuned for the hatchet job on me ... it’s hurting me just mainly watching the party suicide,” he wrote in the text message.
The foreign minister, Julie Bishop, labelled the leaks “unfortunate”.
“To any political party, that’s not a desirable outcome,” she told journalists on Monday morning. “Any leaks that are intended to damage the reputation of a political party are damaging.”
Abbott brushed aside the leaks when they first emerged in February, saying there was “no problem” within the executive.
“I stand by my staff. I certainly have full confidence in the party’s president, the party’s federal director,” Abbott told Nine. “I’m aware of that particular storm in a teacup but the treasurer signed off on the party accounts. So I’m not quite sure what the fuss is over.”
Members of the Liberal party executive have urged an end to the secrecy around account keeping and governance of the party.
“They need to answer these questions or this is going to blow up,” one member said.
The executive met earlier this month, and the party president, Richard Alston, declared that the concerns over the state of the party’s accounts were overblown, but had been laid to rest.
