Councillor’s reason for why he tried to bill taxpayers beer he ‘skolled’ at Adelaide strip club
A councillor has apologised after attempting to bill taxpayers for a “20-minute” trip to a strip club – insisting it was a “genuine mistake”.
A Perth councillor has been forced to apologise after he tried to bill taxpayers a beer he drank at a well-known strip club while on a business trip interstate.
City of Joondalup councillor Nige Jones was in South Australia for a council-funded conference earlier this year and claimed he could not go to sleep one night.
So, Mr Jones went out in search for an alcoholic beverage that he said might help him doze off. He walked into the first bar he saw, “two-minutes” from his accommodation.
“Went in there, got a beer, and then a few minutes later a girl walked out skimpily dressed and I realised what’s going on so I skolled (the drink) and went,” he told 6PR radio station.
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The venue he wandered into was Crazy Horse Revue, located on Hindley St, in Adelaide’s CBD.
It describes itself as “iconic” and “one of Australia’s best strip clubs on offer”.
Asked by host Oliver Peterson how he did not realise it was a gentleman’s club, Mr Jones described the “whole street as seedy” and that he simply wanted a beer.
The councillor, who was due to fly out the next morning, said he was entitled to claim back meals and drinks on work trips and has always been honest with his expenses.
On August 26, he handed over his receipts from the conference for reimbursement, but he did not realise he included the one from the strip club.
“I didn’t actually receive the reimbursement, the council picked up on it straight away,” Mr Jones told 6PR.
“I wouldn’t have claimed it … I just got all my receipts from the trip and put the receipts in and they obviously picked up on that and I explained what happened.”
The Perth councillor also insisted he had “proof” he did not stay at the strip club long, as he moved onto another venue “not shortly after”.
“It’s not like I stayed there and enjoyed the girl on the podium,” he continued.
Asked by the host if he went to strip clubs “regularly” in his private life, Mr Jones said “my wife would kill me”.
He also conceded it was “definitely” not where a councillor should be and issued an apology to the City of Joondalup’s rate payers for his actions.
Mr Jones was censured by the council earlier this month after a complaint was lodged.
The report said the councillor did “not meet the standards expected as outlined in the Code of Conduct”, pointing to his reimbursement of an alcoholic beverage from a strip club.
He was ordered to complete a three-hour “ethical decision making” education course, which is booked in for March, and submit a written reflection of his actions.
The latter was received within one week.
Mr Jones said he has been left embarrassed by the saga after it went public, but maintained it was a “mistake” and he left the strip club once he realised the nature of the venue.
“It was 20 minutes max in there. If I was a pervo (pervert) I would’ve stayed longer,” he said.
Peterson joked the councillor could be the prime minister one day, after Kevin Rudd admitted to visiting a gentlemen’s club in New York City on a drunken night out in 2003.
At the time of the taxpayer-funded trip, he was shadow foreign affairs minister and representing Australia at the United Nations.
The story surfaced in 2007 and Mr Rudd issued an apology, confirming he visited the venue but said he could not remember the night because he “had too much to drink”.
Mr Rudd – Australia’s current ambassador to the US – went on to win the federal election later that same year and became the 26th Prime Minister.
“No, mate, I’ve got no political aspirations – especially after this,” Mr Jones said.
“I take the consequence on the chin. I realise it was compromising the City of Joondalup now. If I could see my time again I wouldn’t of put the receipt in, but I did.
“I did it in kind of innocence, because I didn’t think I was up to no good.
“I was just looking for a late beer. I was in an area that I’m not familiar with, you know, I’m not familiar with Adelaide at all.”
Originally published as Councillor’s reason for why he tried to bill taxpayers beer he ‘skolled’ at Adelaide strip club
