Stephan Knoll and Tim Whetstone engage top lawyers ahead of ICAC investigation into MP travel allowance
State Government ministers whose travel allowance claims helped sparked a major anti-corruption investigation have hired two of SA’s top lawyers.
SA News
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Embattled state ministers Stephan Knoll and Tim Whetstone have engaged two of the state’s top silks to defend them in the investigation by the state’s corruption watchdog.
Independent Commissioner Against Corruption Bruce Lander on Thursday confirmed he will investigate whether any MPs who have claimed the controversial country member’s allowance over the past 10 years have been rorting the system.
David Edwardson QC – one of Australia’s most respected and sought-after barristers – will represent Mr Whetstone, who is the state’s primary industries minister.
Highly respected QC Tom Duggan – the son of retired Justice Kevin Duggan, who was appointed as the state’s first ICAC reviewer in 2014 – will represent Mr Knoll.
Mr Knoll and Mr Whetstone’s offices did not respond when asked on Friday about the appointments.
Mr Edwardson and Mr Duggan both declined to comment.
However, multiple sources have confirmed the appointments.
Although it is not unusual that the ministers have appointed lawyers ahead of an ICAC inquiry, the calibre of the two QCs highlights the seriousness with which Mr Knoll and Mr Whetstone are taking the issue.
Mr Edwardson is regarded as one of the best criminal lawyers in the country representing clients from former prominent WA barrister Lloyd Rayney, who was acquitted of murder, to Richard Phillips – the angry husband who struck then-SA premier Mike Rann with a rolled up magazine in 2009 over an allegation the politician had an affair with his wife.
The State Opposition on Friday called for Mr Knoll to pay back every cent he has received for the allowance since he entered parliament – totalling $130,000 – arguing forms submitted before and after the changes still required MPs to sign a declaration saying that they have incurred an actual expense.
Mr Knoll on Tuesday revealed he would pay back $29,574, telling parliament a 2018 remuneration tribunal ruling added confusion to the system, which he was seeking to overcome by paying back all money claimed since the update.
Mr Knoll said he will not receive the travel allowance until the proper meaning of the new rules is clear.
Mr Whetstone has paid back $6993 after a check of his records found “administrative errors”.
He has declared mistakes dating back to 2012, but is only repaying cash from the period before he became a minister in 2018.
