MP for Newland Olivia Savvas under fire for ‘juvenile’ teddy bear spending

If you go down to the woods today, you’re sure of a big surprise ... the government is billing taxpayers for teddy bears as a prize!

A first-term MP has been accused of “outrageous juvenile spending” after charging taxpayers nearly $1500 for teddy bears and separately claiming public reimbursement for a $1 bottle of mineral water.

Olivia Savvas is facing calls to repay a $1463 charge for 100 plush toy graduation bears, which was first denied by the Department for Treasury and Finance because they were considered a gift and did not meet the rules of the parliamentary “Global Allowance”.

But documents released to the opposition under Freedom of Information laws reveal Treasurer Stephen Mullighan approved the spending after “a representation from the member to the Treasurer’s office”.

“The Treasurer has formed the view that the teddy bears are to be considered a trophy or medal presented to a school student and thus is permitted,” an Electorate Services manager wrote in an email.

The manager acknowledged “the precedent this course of action this may create”.

Member for Newland Olivia Savvas with personalised Olivia Savvas graduation bears she gave to Year 6 graduates in 2022. Picture: Instagram

In a separate reimbursement, a paper receipt showed Ms Savvas, the MP for Newland, claimed a $1 bottle of mineral water purchased at a Coles supermarket near her electorate office.

The opposition said Australian Tax Office research showed it costs about $30 to process a paper invoice of that kind.

Opposition government accountability spokeswoman Michelle Lensink called on Ms Savvas to “do the right thing and pay the money back to taxpayers”.

“It’s a fair and reasonable request in line with government rules when it comes to the expenditure of public money,” she said.

“On one hand South Australians are battling through a cost-of-living crisis. On the other, if Labor ministers aren’t spending huge taxpayer dollars on five-star hotels, Labor MPs like Olivia Savvas want the public purse to pay for teddy bears and bottles of water worth $1.

“This is outrageous juvenile spending by Olivia Savvas during a time where South Australians are struggling to put food on the table and an average family is nearly $17,000 a year worse off under the Malinauskas Labor government.”

Ms Lensink also called on Mr Mullighan to explain why he approved the spending, and if he expects other Labor MPs to charge taxpayers for teddy bears.

Ms Savvas, who posted a picture of herself and the bears on her Instagram page, defended the purchase.

“Providing these as an award for school graduates was well-received by the local community and allowed for under the guidelines,” she said.

Mr Mullighan said the Global Allowance is used by MPs to meet the costs of administering their offices and activities in the community.

He said some expenditures were specifically excluded under the allowance, such as gifts including bottles of wine, wine glasses, bottle openers, stubbie holders, drink bottles, gift baskets, key rings and sunscreen.

“Outside of the exhaustive list of exclusions contained in the guidelines it is up to the MPs to certify that the expense is appropriate,” he said.

“As this specific expense is not an excluded expenditure, as it falls under items presented to school students (which under the guidelines are to be interpreted as like items), there were no grounds to exclude this expenditure.”

Mr Mullighan said the complaint was “a bit rich” given Opposition Leader David Speirs’ latest proactive disclosure included $3131 on Facebook advertising.