Daniel Wills: ICAC ruling on country members’ travel payments clears path back to Cabinet for Stephan Knoll, Tim Whetstone
Former transport minister Stephan Knoll, once considered leadership material, quit over the expenses scandal. Now cleared by ICAC, his political career has been taken off life support.
Opinion
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Within a week of paying back travel expenses under a cloud, they were gone. Now, after a further two and a half months of scrutiny, two former ministers have been given a path back.
Premier Steven Marshall had run an uncommonly steady ship since coming to power in 2018.
He survived two and a half years without losing a minister to resignation or sacking.
Then questions over the expenses of former Upper House president Terry Stephens led to everything unravelling. Former transport and agriculture ministers Stephan Knoll and Tim Whetstone collectively paid back almost $40,000, citing some errors and mass confusion.
In the court of public opinion, that signalled to many people guilty consciences.
It’s arguable they could still be ministers now if not for such dramatic public confessions.
The public furore led then to resign over what Mr Marshall called a “distraction”, a pitch which also left open the prospect of redemption once all the evidence was in.
The announcement of an Independent Commission Against Corruption investigation raised the stakes even further, with wild speculation that the pair could lose more than their ministries.
The ICAC’s announcement on Thursday significantly clears them and several other country MPs of misconduct or corruption. The statement is silent on the status of other Liberals Fraser Ellis and Mr Stephens, but urges no conclusion should be drawn from that.
Legally, there is nothing to prevent Mr Whetstone and Mr Knoll coming back into the Cabinet. Given new transport minister Corey Wingard’s start, the experience could be useful.
But there are still political obstacles standing in their way.
Even though the ICAC is taking no further action against the former ministers, genuine questions remain about their conduct. They have admitted to administrative errors, which may not be misconduct but are still a bad look. There’s arguably the even more important about whether a minister should take taxpayer money when staying with their parents in town.
A lot of people will think that is unbecoming and on the wrong side of good judgment.
Mr Knoll had long been seen as a possible future Liberal leader or premier. He was the frontrunner to become the next treasurer when incumbent Rob Lucas retired.
Mr Whetstone was generally considered a safe pair of hands.
Having a look across the current Liberal backbench, they have as much talent as any.
But they remain damaged in the public mind no matter what the ICAC has now said.
It will take time for them to win back political trust, after being legally cleared.
But there are countless examples of politicians who have survived scandal and made comebacks. Mr Marshall’s Cabinet again looks settled, after wholesale change in July.
But he will be forced to make a change when Mr Lucas quits, either before or at the election in March 2022 and what was unthinkable yesterday is now thinkable again.