Another One Bites the Dust: Santoro Walks

Senator Santoro has resigned saying that he did not want to be a further distraction from the Government. Santoro’s recent admission that he failed to disclose between 50 and 60 other share holdings over an 18 month period (on a list that exceeds 70 share holdings) did not go down well with the Prime Minister: “I am frankly angry and disappointed at the Senator's conduct, there is no excuse for somebody not complying with the rules.”

Howard said he was very embarrassed by the recent revelation. He stood by Santoro earlier this week, refusing Labor’s calls to sack him over the failure to report his biotech holdings, saying that Santoro was only “inadvertently" guilty. He admitted his mistake and gave the profit from the shares to a charity, the Prime Minister said.

It was not in fact a charity.

Senator Santoro gave the $6000 profit from his shares in CBio to the Family Council of Queensland; a conservative values organisation which lobbies for things like Pro-life anti-abortion clinics. The president of the Family Council, Alan Baxter, was the person who sold the shares to Santoro in the first place. Santoro bought the shares after CBio was given a $6 million grant from the federal Government in 2005. He was a backbencher at the time but became Minister for Ageing later that year.

Santo Santoro John Howard Family Council of Queensland Alan Baxter