South Australian MPs pay back almost $80,000 in travel claims
State MPs have paid back almost $80,000 in travel allowances as the travel claims controversy grows.
SA News
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Several state MPs have paid back almost $80,000 in travel claims - originally footed by the taxpayer.
A major document dump in State Parliament on Tuesday made public 10 years of travel claims and also revealed that five Liberal MPs had admitted errors or confusion over their payments and had repaid some claims.
Transport Minister Stephan Knoll has paid back $29,574, and Primary Industries Minister Tim Whetstone has paid back $6993.
Yorke Peninsula MP Fraser Ellis has also conceded doubt around the validity of claims he has made since November 2018 and offered to pay it back. The value of the withdrawn payments is $42,130.
It comes as Premier Steven Marshall faces calls to sack Mr Knoll and Mr Whetstone amid the growing expenses controversy.
Mr Marshall has promised greater transparency in the future, with monthly releases of claims, and has requested random audits of them by the Auditor-General’s office.
MPs who live more than 75km from the general post office in Adelaide have historically been able to claim $225 per night, for a maximum of 135 nights a year, when they are away from home. However, a change by the Remuneration Tribunal in late 2018 added the requirement they must incur an actual expense while doing so.
Those who meet this new requirement are able to claim $234 for each night they are away from home, up to a maximum of $31,590 per year.
Both of the letters from Mr Knoll and Mr Whetstone to Parliament seeking to repay the money were dated Monday, the day before the public document dump.
Mr Knoll told Parliament the 2018 change added confusion to the system, which he was seeking to overcome by paying back all money claimed since the update.
Mr Knoll says will not receive the travel allowance until the proper meaning of the new rules is clear.
However, he has conceded three mistakes where the expenses were wrongly claimed. They include a 2018 trip to Melbourne for a building ministers’ forum, and two trips to regional SA in 2019.
Mr Knoll on Tuesday said: “I consider that I comply with the guidelines outlined in the Remuneration Tribunal determination”.
“When I stay in Adelaide for work at my parents’ residence, I incur expenses and therefore claim the allowance,” Mr Knoll said.
Mr Whetstone said a check of his records found “administrative errors”.
“I have reimbursed the Parliament for those administrative errors and I take full responsibility and I apologise to the house. I apologise to the people of Chaffey and to SA for those errors.”
Mr Whetstone has declared mistakes dating back to 2012, but is only repaying cash from the period before he became a minister in 2018.
That is on grounds that he has travelled so much while minister that days for which he was not previously given payments, because he’d hit the cap, can now count.
Country Liberal MPs Peter Treloar and Adrian Pederick have also amended their claims.
Two of Mr Pederick’s withdrawn claims were for Christmas Day in 2011 and 2012.
Like Mr Whetstone, they admit mistakes but are not returning money as they claim to have travelled more than the cap allows and can now get cash for other times they were not previously paid.
Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas said both ministers had “done the wrong thing”, and any worker “would be facing the sack” for the same conduct. Labor is also seeking a police inquiry.
“We’ve got state cabinet ministers ... now having to pay back tens of thousands of dollars that they have taken out of the hands of taxpayers and put into their own pockets,” Mr Malinauskas said. “It really demands the premier to show some leadership and dismiss these ministers.”
Mr Marshall said: “It is the responsibility of all members of my team ... to make sure that any applications they make for this allowance are done accurately. “If there are any errors, they need to be ... rectified as soon as possible.
“I have assurances from my members that that has taken place,” he said.
Earlier this month, police referred a complaint questioning the legitimacy of Upper House President Terry Stephens’ claim to a taxpayer-funded allowance to the Independent Commissioner Against Corruption.
IT followed allegations that Mr Stephens publicly claimed to live at Victor Harbor but spent a significant amount of time at his Norwood property, but made travel claims anyway.