Rex Patrick’s already had a win for an MP when his inquiries into Labor’s efforts to secure Julian Assange’s return showed no correspondence.
Independent politicians have turned to former independent senator Rex Patrick for pro-bono political consulting services, as staff allowance cuts leave them short on the support required to extract documents from Labor and play a “proactive” role in Parliament.
The self-described “transparency warrior” has cut an indispensable figure during recent months, becoming a go-to undertaker of high-volume freedom of information requests in the policy areas of interest to several independent members and their staff.
The effort, which Patrick calls “Project Argus”, came about after wealthy businessman Ian Melrose — who was responsible for bankrolling Nick Xenophon’s Senate bid in 2016 — approached Patrick after an unsuccessful repeat federal election bid last year.
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