Liberals ask Federal police to probe enrolment of Labor candidate parachuted into Parramatta seat

The Liberal Party has called on the Australian Federal Police to investigate concerns a Labor candidate lied about where he lived on his candidate nomination form.

Liberal Senator Hollie Hughes contacted AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw to query whether Andrew Charlton had broken the law after it emerged the candidate for Parramatta failed to update his enrolment when he moved houses. 

Mr Charlton, who is Anthony Albanese’s ‘captain’s pick’ for seat of Parramatta, moved from a Woollahra home into a $16million Bellevue Hill mansion in 2021.

Ms Hughes’ letter to Mr Kershaw confirmed she has been ‘provided with a statutory declaration affirming when Mr Andrew Charlton was announced at the Australian Electoral Commission ballot draw, an AEC official verified his address was in Woollahra.’

‘Given the previously reported statements about this address in Woollahra, we ask the Australian Federal Police to investigate these matters – including whether Mr Charlton’s nomination form included false or misleading information,’ Ms Hughes’ letter said, according to the Daily Telegraph.

Liberal Senator Hollie Hughes contacted AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw to query whether Andrew Charlton had broken the law after the Labor candidate for Parramatta lied about his place of residence on his nomination form

Parramatta Labor candidate Andrew Charlton later said failing to declare to the AEC he had moved from Woollahra to Belleveue Hill in Sydney’s east was an ‘oversight’

‘I would ask that you address this as a matter of urgency, and provide me with an update on your consideration of this matter.’

Providing false or misleading information to a Commonwealth entity is an offence which can result in a 12 month jail sentence.

The AEC has since confirmed an investigation was launched in relation to Mr Charlton’s enrolment and nomination, but there was ‘insufficient evidence to support further action.’

In another bombshell development, where Mr Charlton’s wife is enrolled to vote this weekend has also been called into question.

Barrister Phoebe Arcus is set to vote in Parramatta – despite the family not yet moving into their $2million home.

Voters must reside at an address for at least a month before using it as an enrolment address.

‘Right now I’ve been living with my family in the seat of Wentworth. We bought a house in Parramatta, we’ve made a commitment to move there and we are in the process of moving,’ Mr Charlton told 2GB host Ben Fordham.

‘I’ve got a young family with three kids and so it’s going to take a bit of time to complete that move.’

Mr Charlton also told Fordham he sleeps in the Parramatta home he purchased last month ‘most nights’.

He later declared on Sky News his wife was a ‘private citizen’ and didn’t want to elaborate further on where she votes this Saturday.  

In a statement earlier this week, Mr Charlton ‘took full responsibility and apologised’ for not updating his personal enrolled address, and later declared it was an ‘oversight.’

Mr Charlton’s sprawling $16.1million mansion in Bellevue Hill (pictured) in Sydney’s east

The Bellevue Hill home boasts spectacular views across the eastern suburbs and Bondi coastline

Mr Charlton was a highly regarded economic advisor to then PM Kevin Rudd and helped steer policies that guided Australia through the 2008 global financial crisis.

Mr Rudd told the ABC: ‘He is a highly talented individual, brilliant economist…and he helped me get Australia a permanent seat on the G20.’

Mr Charlton’s six-bedroom Bellevue Hill property was previously home to MamaMia founder Mia Freedman and her husband Jason Lavigne, and is just down the road from media magnate Lachlan Murdoch and his wife Sarah.

Mr Charlton is fighting to keep Parramatta for Labor following the retirement of current MP Julie Owens, who has represented the seat for 18 years.

His main threat to the seat is Liberal rival Maria Kovacic.