A federal senator who has been criticized on social media for not officially reporting his weekend work in real estate to parliament has dismissed his critics as “crazy left-wing activists.”
The only United Australia Party senator, Ralph Babet, representing Victoria, opened a can of worms on Saturday when he tweeted, “I work in real estate at weekends when I can.”
This was quickly seized on by a Twitter user who pointed out that Mr Babet’s parliamentary interest register said he had ‘no other substantial sources of income’.
But the right-wing senator had a very simple statement to work through.
“I’m not in it for the money,” he told Daily Mail Australia on Monday.
Senator Ralph Babet (right) is pictured with fellow politician Rikkie-Lee Tyrrell, a One Nation MLC in the Victorian Parliament
Senator Ralph Babet’s (pictured) tweet about working in real estate on weekends has opened a can of worms
“I do it because it’s my small family business… and I do it to help my family, just like a person would go back to working on a farm if their family owned a farm,” he said.
“They went back and helped milk the cows or did whatever they were doing on the family farm. It’s exactly the same.’
Mr Babet said he was not required to declare his weekend work in real estate because ‘no income’ is deposited into his bank account.
“I have not received a pay check for the company. So why would I report something that doesn’t make me any money,” he added.
Instead, the senator blamed “crazy and left-wing activists on Twitter” for saying he should have registered his work with Babet Brothers.
The register does show that he is a director of the company.
Senator Ralph Babet did not list other “substantial sources of income” in his Senate statement (pictured)
Mr Babet said the real estate controversy was because anything he says is turned into ‘a huge problem’ by some people.
“Everything I say, those people on Twitter find something negative in it. Nothing I say is something they’ll actually look at and say, ‘Okay, maybe he’s got a point,'” he said.
When elected last year, Mr Babet complained that he had to accept a ‘salary cut’ to sit in parliament.
“This is a sacrifice for me, I do it to serve my country,” he said in a tweet.
It’s a pay cut. If you think $200,000 for the amount of work I’ll have to do and the amount of suffering I’ll endure is a good deal, you’re wrong.”
He said on Monday that the tweet was “completely taken out of context.”
When elected last year, Senator Babet (pictured) lamented having to take a ‘pay cut’ to sit in parliament
“A leftist troll attacked me on Twitter and said ‘oh, you’re only doing this for the money. You’re only in it for the money,'” he said.
Mr Babet said he didn’t do the job for more than $200,000 a year “to get dragged out by the media…
“What’s $200,000 a year? I could make that by doing something different if money is all I want, I do it because I care, because I want better for the future generations to come after,” he said.
“But what I have a problem with is people saying I’m just in it for the money, which is absolute bullshit.”
The property drama comes after Mr Babet was dogged by allegations that he regularly misses parliament.
Mr Babet dismissed suggestions on social media that he had a 46 percent attendance record in the Senate – confirming that it was actually his voting record which stands at 46 percent.
The Senate website lists him as the ‘United Australia Party Whip’, meaning his job is to ensure that the UAP politicians vote.
As he is the only UAP member in parliament, he only needs to collect one vote at a time, but Mr Babet claimed it was Labor and the Greens’ fault that he got less than half of all the votes.
“What they’re referring to is how many times (I) have been in the Senate for a division. A division is when you vote on a piece (legislation), on an amendment to something,” he said.
Labor Senator Sue Lines (pictured), Speaker of the Senate, is accused of deliberately not giving a United Australia Party senator an office close to the Senate chamber, causing him to miss more than half the vote
The senator said his voting record was due to him not being on the senate side of the building and thus not being able to get to the chamber in time.
“I’m all the way on the other side and physically can’t make it on time. That’s why I’m not in so many divisions … the Greens occupy all the extra offices on the Senate side,” he said.
He said three offices became available that were much closer to the Senate chamber and that he should have been given one under the rules because he was elected ahead of some other senators in the May 2022 federal election.
“And the president of the Senate, the president of the Labor Party (Sue Lines) gave the offices to other people instead of me, even though I was higher in the hierarchy for those offices,” Mr. Babet claimed.
“So they deliberately kept me on the side of the House of Representatives, so that I couldn’t easily participate in Senate affairs.”
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Ms Lines for comment.