(Image: Private Media)

There are fresh questions over a quarantine business scheme set up by close friends of the prime minister, with conflicting stories emerging about Scott Morrison’s involvement.

Yesterday Sky News revealed the new information which calls into question statements from the Prime Minister’s Office that he knew nothing of a contract awarded without tender to a company run by close associates Scott Briggs and David Gazard.

The $80,000 contract was awarded in August to DPG Advisory Solutions by the Home Affairs Department and was the forerunner to a large prospective business venture called Quarantine Services Australia (QSA), which planned to provide quarantine services.

Sky News reported fresh information that Home Affairs head Mike Pezzullo said “words to the effect” that the quarantine project was “a really important project for the PM, the treasurer and the government”. Pezzullo reportedly made the comments on a conference call with Briggs and members of the Business Council of Australia.

The claim contradicts evidence which Pezzullo gave to a Senate hearing in October when he said he was unaware of that QSA was owned by DPG Advisory. Crikey contacted the Department of Home Affairs for a response. We were directed to Pezzullo’s comments at Senate estimates.

As Crikey has detailed, the awarding of the contract has been highly controversial given the close links between the figures behind the companies involved and Morrison, as well as the vast sums of money potentially at stake. According to a QSA document, the charge for quarantine would be between $8000 and $12,500 for 14 days.

Briggs and Gazard are part of Morrison’s inner circle. Briggs is a former New South Wales Liberal Party deputy state director and is said to operate with the authority of the PM. He is also a board member of Morrison’s football club, the Cronulla Sharks.

The links extend to other members of DPG Solutions.

Sasha Grebe joined DPG as an associate in 2020 and has a long relationship with Morrison. He was director of communications and strategy for Morrison when he was treasurer from 2015 to 2017. He had previously worked as a senior adviser to then treasurer Joe Hickey.

He was also general manager, corporate affairs for Tourism Australia 2005 to 2006, coinciding with Morrison’s tenure as its head. Grebe reported directly to Morrison and was a champion of Morrison’s “Where the bloody hell are you?” campaign.

But perhaps most disturbing for Morrison will be the change of tone from Sky News. It introduced its segment as “the curious story of the friends of the PM and the contract without tender”, a signal that, in this case anyway, the relationship between Morrison and his business mates — and accompanying questionable process — is no longer off limits.