A former Liberal politician didn't submit tax returns because a family violence order prevented him from going to a house where important documents were kept, a court has been told.
Adam Richard Brooks, 49, served in Tasmania's parliament from 2010-19 and held several portfolios including mining and building and construction.
He appeared in Devonport Magistrates Court on Monday after earlier pleading guilty to failing to comply with a requirement under taxation law.
Brooks had also pleaded guilty on behalf of a company he directed, Rapid Fleet Management, to three counts of failing to furnish an approved form.
Brooks failed to file income tax returns from 2018 to 2021, while the company failed to file income tax returns for three financial years as well as GST returns.
The court was told Brooks, who received several warnings, submitted the returns in July and was paid about $81,500 while the company had to pay about $90,000.
His lawyer Anthony Mihal said the $90,000 "shortfall" included a "significant" amount of interest.
"The public purse hasn't suffered any detriment ... as a result of the failures to comply with the notice," Mr Mihal said.
Brooks, who had a chequered political career, was in a "funk" during the offending and dealing with significant turmoil, Mr Mihal said.
Brooks quit parliament in 2019 after a report was critical of his use of an email address linked to his mining company.
He was re-elected in 2021 but never sat in parliament, stepping aside after a campaign marred by online dating catfishing allegations and weapons charges in Queensland.
Mr Mihal said Brooks was also dealing with the end of a marriage, his father's battle with cancer and a life-threatening illness faced by his daughter in the UK.
In January 2022, Brooks was fined $5000 in a Queensland court after admitting to having an unregistered handgun and stolen driver's licences.
Mr Mihal said as part of the investigation police had seized a laptop containing documents needed to complete the outstanding tax returns.
Brooks "acrimoniously" split with a woman he started seeing after his marriage, leading to a family violence order preventing him from going to a house where the pair had lived.
Mr Mihal said the house contained relevant documents to the tax returns.
"He feared if he identified particular documents his partner would destroy the documents," Mr Mihal said.
Brooks, who is expected to be sentenced in January, was allowed to retrieve his possessions from the house in August 2023 and couriered the documents to his home in Queensland.
Brooks had been subjected to unfair media coverage, including headlines labelling him "disgraced" and a "tax evader", Mr Mihal said.
Brooks was being treated for ADHD and was unlikely to reoffend, he added.
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
Lifeline 13 11 14
