Politicians have used musicians as a way to appeal to the wider public plenty of times in the past. Why, we’ve seen Anthony Albanese talk about Polish Club and Record Store Day before, and there was also the English pollie who recently quoted Stormzy during a speech. But the most recent instance of this comes from Liberal MP Tim Wilson and his love for (or vendetta against) Client Liaison.
In a video posted on the band’s Instagram yesterday, Liberal MP Tim Wilson jokingly uses Client Liaison’s lavish lifestyle as an example of the sort of people that the Australian Tax Office wants to focus on, all whilst shoehorning in as many of the group’s song titles as possible.
Wilson’s speech began rather innocently enough, as he sought to talk about the “questionable business practices of Mrs. Harvey Millar AO and Monte Morgan, as joint CEOs of Client Liaison, Pty Ltd.” Of course, other MPs in the background seemed to think everything was all above board, but soon enough, Wilson began to let it be known that this speech was anything but regular.
Wilson went on to use the band’s high-flying, jet-setting lifestyles as an analogy for tax-dodging Australians. “This house is here to say you don’t have diplomatic immunity to jet off on a foreign affair, with your business contact with electric eyes, in the back of your off-white limousine,” Wilson stated. “[Client Liaison] belong here in Australia, creating jobs and paying taxes, their ‘do it my way’ approach of tax minimisation may be legal, but evasion is not.”
Eventually, Wilson closed his speech by simply stating “To Client Liaison Pty Ltd, we say this: if you think Canberra won’t be calling tonight, think again. The Australian Taxation Office has your number.”
All in all, it was rather strange to say the least, and we can only imagine how confused the other MPs who weren’t aware of the band were feeling. Nevertheless, it makes for a pretty intriguing watch.
Client Liaison are currently in the middle of their national ‘A Foreign Affair’ tour. The band are set to hit up Sydney’s Enmore Theatre tonight, before heading to Newtown’s Marlborough Hotel for an official afterparty. The group’s tour wraps up in Canberra on Saturday, so let’s hope that the Australian Tax Office doesn’t have any officials waiting for them when they step off their flight.
Check out Client Liaison’s extremely lavish ‘Off White Limousine’, below.
