The Health Minister’s wife is employed by a firm set to benefit from a $23.4million investment into cyber security.
Mark Butler is a member of the expenditure review committee, along with the Prime Minister, Treasurer, and high-ranking Labor ministers, tasked with awarding funding in the 2023-2024 Budget.
Questions have been raised about a contract dished out by the group to the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia (COSBOA), to help protect companies against cyber threats.
The program lists company 89 Degrees East as a ‘founding partner’, and COSBOA describes the firm as a ‘delivery partner’.
Mr Butler’s wife, journalist Daniela Ritorto, is listed as a ‘senior consultant’ currently on maternity leave on the 89 Degrees East’s website.
Her role with the company is also declared on Mr Butler’s register of interests.
Daily Mail Australia understands the connection between the two businesses – which is readily available online – was not made clear during any expenditure review committee discussions about the funding.
As such, Mr Butler was never aware of, or concerned about, any potential conflict of interest.
Mr Butler and his wife married in 2021 after three years of dating
89 Degrees East was posting about its involvement with the project as early as January, and is listed on the Cyber Wardens website as a ‘founding partner’
A spokesperson from Mr Butler’s office said on Wednesday evening: ‘When the measure in question was brought before the ERC, there was no mention of the involvement or potential involvement of 89 Degrees East.
‘The Minister had nothing to declare.’
89 Degrees East was posting about its involvement with the project as early as January, and is listed on the Cyber Wardens website as a ‘founding partner’.
The Budget announcing the cash funding was on May 9.
During Senate Estimates on Tuesday night, Finance Minister Katy Gallagher said the contract awarded to COSBOA was done in consultation with Labor ministers.
She said: ‘It was a decision of government to fund this’, before adding it was ‘part of the standard Budget process’.
In justifying the decision to award the funding, Senator Gallagher described COSBOA as ‘the peak small business group’.
‘They are the obvious choice to run a program like this, but there is a process to go through around the particulars of this grant. That is still to be finalised.’
Daily Mail Australia understands the connection between the two businesses – which is readily available online – was not made clear during any expenditure review committee discussions about the funding. As such, Mr Butler was never aware of, or concerned about, any potential conflict of interest
The Cyber Wardens program will create up to 60,000 jobs in small businesses within three years, roles primarily tasked with preventing cyber scams and attacks.
Senator Gallagher was grilled during the hearing about the grant, but stood firm in her conviction that Labor had made the right choice in allocating the money.
Australia has been described as a ‘hacker’s paradise’ following breaches to both Optus and Medibank in recent months.
As a result, Labor have invested significantly in the cyber protection sphere, with $101.6million allocated over five years across multiple projects.
But there are concerns about the decision making process behind the funding in light of 89 Degrees East’s ties with both Labor and COSBOA.
One senior Opposition staffer said Mr Butler must confirm whether he had any involvement in the allocation of funds to a company with such close ties to the one allocated funding.
Mr Butler is a close ally of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who is also a member of the expenditure review committee
Ministerial Standards state all official decisions a minister is involved in must be free from bias or ‘irrelevant consideration’.
‘Ministers must have regard to the pecuniary and other private interests of members of their family, to the extent known to them, as well as their own interests, in considering whether a conflict or apparent conflict between private interests and official duty arises.’
Mr Butler is a close ally of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who is also a member of the expenditure review committee.
The committee is comprised of some of the most senior ranking members of Government, including; Mr Albanese, Treasurer Jim Chalmers, Foreign Minister Penny Wong, Deputy PM Richard Marles and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher.
Mr Butler has served in the House of Representatives since 2007, and was a minister in both the Gillard and Rudd governments before being assigned the Health role under Mr Albanese.
He and his wife married in 2021 after three years of dating.
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