What timing! Labor chases Stuart Robert – and a byelection win – just as the Nacc opens its doors

‘This is either a Labor get-square with a former minister who has done nothing wrong as Stuart Robert claims; or the government and the audit committee are hot on the trail of alleged misconduct.’ Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

This week the audit committee dropped a bomb on the former Coalition minister Stuart Robert, releasing a witness statement alleging that lobbying firm Synergy 360 proposed a structure designed to allow the retired Fadden MP to benefit from government contracts.

Robert immediately rejected the allegation “in the strongest possible terms” and said there was “no evidence” for the claim made under parliamentary privilege. But the government services minister, Bill Shorten, labelled the claims “serious allegations” and asked Services Australia to “advise what the next appropriate avenues are”.