Speaker of Victorian Parliament Telmo Languiller sensationally quits

VICTORIAN Premier Daniel Andrews is refusing to make a Labor MP pay back $100,000 he inappropriately claimed.

PREMIER Daniel Andrews is refusing to make a Labor MP pay back $100,000 he inappropriately claimed as the government launches a major review of politicians’ perks.

The Herald Sun can reveal the government will consider creating a specific list of electorates whose representatives can claim a second residence allowance worth almost $40,000 a year.

It comes after Speaker Telmo Languiller and Deputy Speaker Don Nardella quit at the weekend because they claimed the allowance to live in seaside towns on the Bellarine Peninsula instead of their western suburbs electorates.

Former speaker Telmo Languiller. Picture: Tim Carrafa

Mr Languiller has vowed to pay back almost $40,000 but Mr Andrews on Saturday dodged questions about whether Mr Nardella should return the money he claimed to live in Ocean Grove.

“That is a matter best dealt with by the audit committee and again, I would expect and I am confident that both gentlemen will co-operate with the audit committee,” Mr Andrews said. “It ought to be a forensic examination of these issues and it ought to be done in good time.”

COMMENT: Andrews must make real changes to rules on second residence allowances

Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said the issue would “not go away” unless the Premier made Mr Nardella pay the money back.

“If he doesn’t, Daniel Andrews is complicit in this rorting of Don Nardella. It’s as simple as that,” Mr Guy said.

He said the government could not be trusted to reform the allowance system, given the Premier’s right-hand man Gavin Jennings had been put in charge of the review.

“It’s like putting a fox in charge of a hen house,” Mr Guy said.

The Herald Sun can reveal Macedon MP Mary-Anne Thomas is also claiming the second residence allowance to live in Kyneton, which is in her electorate but is barely beyond the 80km distance from Melbourne required to claim it.

Ms Thomas owns a property in Northcote, where she lived for several years until 2014 but now rents out. She said she claimed the allowance to rent a flat in North Melbourne for when parliament was sitting.

Former Deputy Speaker Don Nardella. Picture: Jay Town

Mr Andrews said he did not believe any other city MPs were claiming the allowance meant for regional MPs.

When asked by the Herald Sun to reveal how many of his MPs lived in the electorates they represented, Mr Andrews said: “I’ll have to get back to you on that.”

Mr Guy said Liberal MPs were required to live in their electorate or next suburb outside of their electorate. He said only four of his MPs did not live in their electorate, only because of a redraft of boundaries in 2014.

Mr Andrews said Cabinet would consider amendments this week. He did not rule out publishing a list of which MPs were claiming entitlements.

Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio was also forced to defend living outside of her electorate of Mill Park yesterday. “We made the decision for family reasons. Whether I am a member of parliament or not. I have always been a northern suburbs girl and always will be,” she said.