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The embattled Perth Mint is facing another investigation after a period of intense scrutiny, this time by a federal parliamentary inquiry.
Key points:
- The Perth Mint will be subject to a federal parliamentary inquiry
- It follows concerns over regulatory compliance and gold sales to China with lower purity
- It will probe the saga's impact on Australia's reputation with precious metals
Australia's financial crimes authority, AUSTRAC, has been investigating the mint since late last year over its level of compliance with anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws.
An investigation by the ABC's Four Corners earlier this year found concerns with the mint's regulatory compliance defences after a notorious former bikie was able to buy $27,000 worth of gold with little more than his driver's licence.
It also revealed that between 2018 and 2021, the mint sold gold to China that met broader industry purity standards for 99.99 per cent pure gold, but not stricter standards at the Shanghai Gold Exchange for silver content.
The mint accepted the so-called "doping" was "damaging and unacceptable", with the premier pointing to remediation work already underway.
Following the revelations, the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) launched its own probe which concluded the mint was allowed to remain on a list of approved refiners.
The ABC also revealed the 123-year-old organisation had potentially breached commodities laws in nearly two dozen US states for more than a quarter of a century and concerns raised by a company which runs a soon-to-be shutdown cryptocurrency associated with the mint.
Mint under federal scrutiny
The Senate agreed on Thursday, to a motion put forward by WA Liberal Senator Dean Smith to establish a wide-ranging committee to report into the mint and its compliance with a range of Commonwealth laws and regulations.
The inquiry will also look at events that led to AUSTRAC's investigation, the LBMA's incident review process and the "corporate and statutory governance" of the organisation.
"The extent to which Australia's reputation as a precious metals producer, refiner and exporter may have been damaged by Gold Corporation's failure to comply with all necessary corporate and regulatory requirements," will also be probed.
The committee is due to report by December 13 and will be made up of seven senators – three from the opposition, two from Labor, one from the Greens and one from the crossbench.
Inquiry 'duplicates' existing probes
Before the Senate voted to form the inquiry, Finance Minister Katy Gallagher made a short statement pointing to the WA government's $34 million investment to overhaul the mint's internal systems and procedures.
"AUSTRAC and the WA government are taking these matters seriously, as we are," she said.
"The senator [Dean Smith] knows this motion will not only duplicate this effort but also risks compromising these independent investigations.
"We do not support a motion that is driven by state politics that would disrespect and undermine due process."
AUSTRAC had been due to complete its audit of the mint in May but told Senate Estimates at the time a range of issues had led to delays.
"I think it's fair to say that the quality of record-keeping [at the mint] has not been high and that has been an impact on the timeliness of the audit to be able to conclude their work," AUSTRAC deputy CEO Peter Soros said.
Mint offers cooperation
A spokesperson for the mint said it would cooperate with all requests made by the federal committee.
"We continue to actively engage with the regulator and are progressing a comprehensive, fully funded remediation program to strengthen our systems and processes," the spokesperson said in a statement to the ABC.
The WA government, which guarantees the mint, is currently considering the future of its involvement with the operation and whether it should be sold.
In May it was announced CEO Jason Waters would be resigning from the mint after little over a year in the job to take up a role at Perth Airport.
WA opposition leader Shane Love had previously called for the state government to hold a royal commission into the mint, which was rejected.
"We worked with the federal opposition to bypass the state government after they refused to investigate their own conduct and management of the Perth Mint, and with the former premier even dismissing the matter as a 'storm in a teacup'," he said.
"Today the Albanese Government's attempt to protect their state colleagues has failed, with the Nationals and Liberals in opposition winning the fight to establish a Senate Select Committee.
"Perhaps WA will finally see the long promised 'gold-standard' transparency."
In a statement, Mines and Petroleum Minister Bill Johnston said he hopes the new committee doesn't delay or impede the work of existing reviews into the mint.
He accused Senator Smith of political grandstanding.
"The Perth Mint is a complex business working under a mix of state, federal and international laws, but our Government has begun the work of responding to these issues that were left unaddressed by successive governments over several decades, including the previous Liberal-National Government," he said.