Barry O’Sullivan is the Queensland Senator who was appointed to fill the Senate vacancy left by Barnaby Joyce’s move to the lower house in 2013.
He first came to attention in 2011 when an expletive-laden tape emerged of him bullying and threatening a candidate for pre-selection.
O’Sullivan, Chair of the Candidate Review Committee, tells the candidate “you wouldn’t be the first f—ing dead body on the floor of this party where the problem has got too big, so you need to work with us and stop frightening the children.”
He goes on to say, “you think this party is going to go out and defend you on your word alone you’re f—ing even more naive than you’re presenting”.
The candidate was then made to hold his hands above his head and repeat the statements “guys we need to work together to neutralise it” and “my innocence doesn’t make the problem go away”.
Mr O’Sullivan stressed the importance of the Cairns electorate in the tape.
“You don’t think I want to work for a whole year only to sit down on f—ing election night with a bottle of rum between my knees, f—ing bawling my eyes out because [we] lost it by one seat which was Cairns,” he said.
These were not the only tapes to get Mr O’Sullivan into hot water.
Also in 2011, the Courier-Mail revealed covert recordings undertaken by Moggill MP Bruce Flegg in which he was offered an inducement by party officials to retire so he could be replaced by Campbell Newman. The tapes included conversations about him taking a lucrative trade commissioner’s position.
The CMC became involved, naming O’Sullivan as a “relevant” party to the investigation.
In mid-2012, O’Sullivan, a former police officer-turned developer, was then appointed by Flegg who was Queensland public works minister, to conduct an audit of two state government agencies, GoPrint and GoPlant, despite him having no direct knowledge of the industries involved.
The state opposition called the appointment “totally inappropriate”, saying that an accounting firm should have conducted the audit rather than an LNP party official. Premier Campbell Newman conceded that O’Sullivan’s appointment was inappropriate, and that he was not aware of the appointment until it was reported in the media.
Meanwhile the CMC investigation continued with Dr Flegg’s former lover telling the watchdog that she was aware of the offer made to Flegg.
Despite all this, O’Sullivan was chosen to replace Joyce but his appointment was postponed until February 2014 pending the results of the CMC investigation (who eventually found no evidence for the allegations), leaving Queensland one Senator short for five months.
Senator O’Sullivan has the claim to fame of being the politician with the largest property portfolio, with 40 to 50 investment properties. He is also the person who asked Larissa Waters if she was married during Senate Question Time.
Mr O’Sullivan has not faced an election before. It is now up to the people of Queensland to decide if they endorse the man who was gifted the job.
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