Crikey understands a News Limited tabloid is preparing a piece on our alternative treasurer – a detailed piece that will revisit a potentially embarrassing episode.

It’s largely forgotten now, but Wayne Swan lost his seat of Lilley in 1996. In the aftermath, allegations were made that the electorate office had been trashed. The new incumbent, oncer Liberal MP, Elizabeth Grace, discovered the damage.

The Courier Mail reported that the office had been handed over with office equipment cables “disconnected and entangled, keys to drawers hidden in desk recesses, stains in the carpet, food left to rot in a refrigerator and damage to walls and drapes”.

The matter was raised in Question Time on May 28 of that year. “Following declaration of the poll for the seat of Lilley on 22 March 1996, Mr Swan’s electorate office was inspected and found to be in an extreme state of disarray,” Administrative Services Minister David Jull told Parliament. “There was no evidence of a break-in. Mr Swan’s private-plated vehicle was also returned in a damaged condition… In order to prepare the office for immediate occupancy, the department arranged the necessary repairs and cleaning at a cost of $3,595. Repairs to Mr Swan’s private-plated vehicle cost $2,718.”

Jull, however, also said: “Following a report into the matter in the Courier-Mail, my department has received a letter from lawyers acting for Mr Wayne Swan, the former member for Lilley, from the Queensland legal firm of Goss Downey Carne. The letter refers to several allegations in the article relating to $6,000 in damage to the former member’s electorate office and private-plated vehicle. Mr Swan’s lawyers stated that their client is most distressed by these allegations as they are untrue and impute unsavoury standards to their client.”

In December of 1996, Swan received a letter from Administrative Services saying Jull had decided it was not possible to conclude that any person or persons inflicted wilful damage on the office. “In view of that finding, the matter is now closed,” the letter said.

While they will not go on the record, Government sources admit the matter was mishandled. They also remain adamant that the office was handed over in a damaged state – and detail what Grace found.

Did a new minister in a new government misfire back in 1996 – and will the issue come back to bite Swan now?