What was served up during contentious taxpayer-funded meals revealed
Here’s what taxpayers forked out for during two contentious dinners that drew the ire of the State Ombudsman.
Expensive steaks and $318 worth of drinks, including bottles of wine, were ordered during a contentious taxpayer-funded dinner in Mount Gambier, it can now be revealed.
Further details on two dinners paid for by the public purse, both which drew criticism from the State Ombudsman, have been laid bare in State Parliament.
It came after the The Advertiser earlier this month reported that Ombudsman Wayne Lines rebuked former SA Transport Department boss Michael Deegan’s spending on meals, alcohol and entertainment when at the helm of the department, finding his use of a taxpayer-funded credit card amounted to“maladministration”.
Mr Deegan was sacked by Premier Steven Marshall soon after last year’s state election.
He rejected the Ombudsman’s findings, declared he had acted ethically and transparently within the departmental guidelines and the Public Service Commission Code of Ethics at all times.
Treasurer Rob Lucas outlined in Parliament further details on a dinner at The Barn Steakhouse in Mount Gambier in October 2015, which cost taxpayers $860.50.
A group of about 10 people, including then Labor Ministers and staffers, were in the town for a Country Cabinet meeting and dined at the Barn Steakhouse, during which Mr Lucas said they ordered:
TWO special Wagyu fillets at $69 each.
FOUR eye fillets, totalling $154.
FOUR fillet mignons, totalling $168.
A TOTAL of $318 on beverages, including bottles of Herbert Pinot Noir and two bottles of Majella wine at $65 each.
While the Ombudsman’s criticism was directed at Mr Deegan, who paid for the dinner on his corporate credit card, Mr Lucas took aim at the then-Transport Minister Stephen Mullighan over his involvement at the feast.
“The preferences of the former minister are eye-watering,” he said.
Mr Lucas also denounced a “cosy little dinner” between Mr Deegan and Mr Mullighan, which cost taxpayers $247.40, in September 2017.
“A nice little Estrella Damm lager brewed in Spain was enjoyed by one of the two of them,” Mr Lucas said.
“(Also ordered were) two scotch fillet steaks at $48 each, two glasses of Yangarra shiraz from McLaren Vale at $14 each, and crispy potatoes, coquettes and morcilla, which I am told is a blood sausage, often called blood pudding in Britain.”
“It is concerning that the former minister and now the shadow treasurer treated public expenditure in such a cavalier fashion.”
Opposition treasury spokesman Stephen Mullighan hit back, saying Mr Lucas had “no credibility on racking up bills for the taxpayer”.
“During the Christmas holiday period of 2007-08 he travelled at taxpayer expense for 41 days to the United States, at a cost of tens of thousands of dollars,” he said.
“This comes after near-identical trip taken for 30 days, at taxpayer expense, again to the US over the Christmas holiday period of 2004-05.”
Mr Mullighan denied he was the recipient of the more expensive items Mr Lucas discussed in Parliament.
Mr Lucas also detailed in Parliament a $1500 taxpayer-funded dinner in Berlin in August 2016, which included a $173 steak and three $140 bottles of wine, however Mr Deegan reimbursed the department $1000 for this outing.