Transport Minister Stephan Knoll paid parents board and billed the taxpayer – he’s repaid $30,000 but says he did nothing wrong
After Transport Minister Stephan Knoll repeatedly refused to reveal what expenses he incurred when staying with his parents, his father has revealed he paid board as “a private arrangement”. Mr Knoll has repaid $30,000 in travel allowances but Labor says he should be sacked.
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Transport Minister Stephan Knoll used a taxpayer travel allowance to pay board to his parents while staying in Adelaide, but refuses to reveal full details of the deal.
Two Liberal ministers and a backbencher have faced a second day of intense political pressure over nearly $80,000 in travel claims that they have offered to pay back.
In a press conference on Wednesday, Stephan Knoll frequently repeated that he had a “range of expenses” while in Adelaide staying with his parents, but refused to explain them.
His father, Adelaide City Councillor and Barossa Fine Foods managing director Franz Knoll, later confirmed to The Advertiserthe pair had a private arrangement for board.
The country members’ allowance permits MPs who live 75km or more from the Adelaide general post office to claim $234 a night when away from home.
But a rule change in 2018 said they must incur actual expenses to get it, rather than have it be granted as an automatic payment whenever they travelled. Neither Mr Knoll, junior or senior, would say what the price of the board was.
Franz Knoll said there was a “private arrangement” in place with his son.
“We have an arrangement where he, in a sense, is paying a board,” he said.
“He is paying something, and contributing towards the cost of staying at our place. He is contributing to my household. That’s all I will say.”
Franz Knoll would not reveal the value of the board payments. Under Australian law, a family member paying for board is treated as a domestic arrangement and is not taxable rental income.
Stephan Knoll has paid back $29,574 claimed since the 2018 rule change, despite saying he believes he was entitled to receive it because of expenses incurred with his folks.
“I have chosen to repay the money,” he said.
“The money is not the issue here. What is the issue is the fact that I need to make sure that I have done everything I can to satisfy the public as well as myself that I have put this issue beyond doubt.
“As a Minister of the Crown, I need to make sure that I act beyond reproach.”
Senior Liberal sources say the controversy has dealt a serious blow to Stephan Knoll’s ambitions, which have been speculated to one day include party leadership.
The expenses controversy follows his high-profile backflip on closing bus stops. But Liberal sources believe he retains Premier Steven Marshall’s support to stay in the ministry.
One MP said that could change if the controversy continued to strangle the Government in coming weeks and wipe out political gains made in the COVID period.
The State Opposition intensified calls for Mr Knoll’s sacking by highlighting his claim for the allowance on Australia Day this year as he took his mother to a cricket match at Adelaide Oval.
Mr Knoll, who tweeted a picture at the time, defended the allowance claim.
“I worked over the weekend and stayed in Adelaide to prepare for and hold a morning press conference about a significant government policy regarding GlobeLink,” he said.
On January 27 Mr Knoll announced the State Government’s plans to scrap GlobeLink – a key election pledge.
Opposition transport spokesman Tom Koutsantonis said the claim was further evidence that Premier Steven Marshall should sack Mr Knoll.
“Taking your mum out for her birthday is the right thing to do. But claiming it on the taxpayer is the wrong thing to do,” he said.
The Opposition is also raising questions about whether Franz Knoll should have declared the board arrangement, and the income from it, on his council register of members’ interests.
Franz Knoll did not respond to a second request for comment on that matter.
Family board is not deemed as rental income by the Australian Taxation Office.
Regional Development Minister Tim Whetstone is also repaying $6993 over “administrative errors” dating back to 2012.
While the two high-profile ministers have been most in focus, the biggest repayment is from first-term Narungga MP Fraser Ellis. He is giving back $42,130. Ms Ellis declined an interview.
In a statement, he said he was “very sorry”.
It is understood Mr Ellis has stayed in town at a property with Upper House president Terry Stephens, himself under scrutiny over entitlements, but not made payments.
In parliament, Mr Marshall said his Government had been more transparent than any in SA history, by publishing a backlog of travel expense claims. Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas said Mr Marshall must “show leadership”, and sack two ministers who had “done the wrong thing”, to restore the public’s confidence.