krudd fails to declare company interest

Rudd fails to declare wife's firmBy John Lyons
April 11, 2008 06:00am
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Rudd fails to declare wife's company
Invisage granted $160K in government money
But company 'inactive' since 2006, says Rudd

KEVIN Rudd has failed to declare a company owned by his wife, which has been granted $160,000 of government money in the past four years.

The continued ownership of the company by the Prime Minister's wife, Therese Rein, directly contradicts repeated claims by Mr Rudd and Ms Rein that they have divested themselves of all their Australian businesses.

Mr Rudd's office said yesterday that the company was not declared on the registry of interests to the House of Representatives because it was "inactive" at the time his interests were registered on March 11 this year.

The company -- Invisage Australia -- was built by Ms Rein to specialise in corporate training, coaching, mentoring and personal development.

It had received more than $160,000 of government funding until as late as May last year, including $132,000 from the federal Department of Employment and Workplace Relations.

Only four weeks ago, Mr Rudd declared on his parliamentary register several other subsidiaries of his wife's parent company, Ingeus, under "spouse", but did not declare Invisage.

Asked if the Prime Minister had breached his duty to disclose his interest in Invisage, his office said: "Mr Rudd has never had an interest in Invisage Australia."

A search of Australian Securities and Investments Commission records shows that as of this week, Invisage is still registered.

This is despite Ms Rein making it clear several months ago that she had divested herself of all her Australian operations and would concentrate on the international operations of Ingeus and its subsidiaries to avoid any conflict of interest withher husband's new role as Prime Minister.

The statement from Mr Rudd's office attempts to distance him from public statements by his wife

In The Australian on December 4, Ms Rein said she had finalised the sale of her Australian businesses.

But the statement from Mr Rudd's office yesterday said: "The Australian article published on December 4, 2007, contained no statements attributed to Mr Rudd."

Ms Rein announced that the proceeds of her sale of another subsidiary, Work Directions, would be reinvested into growing Ingeus internationally.

Even though the grants to Invisage can be instantly accessed on the DEWR website, the Prime Minister's office said: "We cannot confirm the accuracy of the claim."

The office made the same response to all three cases where Invisage received government money -- $132,000 from DEWR, $29,163 from the NSW Department of Education and Training in 2006, and $2625 from the same department in 2004.

One of the only public references made by Ms Rein to Invisage came in Business Review Weekly magazine in October 2002, when she announced a restructure of her company.

A new company, Ingeus, would be created with four divisions -- one of which was Invisage.

Current ASIC records show that Invisage's principal place of business is the same address as that of Ingeus.

Mr Rudd's office claimed yesterday that Invisage had been inactive since 2006 and would be formally deregistered by June 30 this year.

Although the Rudds claim the company has been inactive, the DEWR website shows that the $132,000 grant from the federal Government was anticipated to run through to May 31 last year.

The website says the contract for the money between the department and Invisage contains confidentiality provisions requested by the department.

The money was for two programs: the Structured Training and Employment Program and the Corporate Leaders for Indigenous Employment Project.

While the Prime Minister's office would not confirm Invisage received any government money, it added: "In any event, receipt of a grant from a commonwealth department or agency is not a category of registrable interest subject to disclosure."