Disgraced Melton MP Don Nardella repays rorted $98,254

DISGRACED Melton MP Don Nardella has finally ­repaid almost $100,000 he rorted from Victorian taxpayers while living by the beach instead of in his electorate.

DISGRACED Melton MP Don Nardella has finally ­repaid almost $100,000 he rorted from Victorian taxpayers while living by the beach instead of in his electorate.

The former deputy speaker had milked up to $37,678 a year from taxpayers for saying he lived in an Ocean Grove caravan park, rather than in his outer suburban seat.

Don Nardella. Picture: Nicole Garmston

By using the Ocean Grove address as his “primary residence”, he was able to cash in on a lucrative perk meant to cover the costs of country MPs travelling to state Parliament.

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Despite claiming he did nothing wrong because Ocean Grove was “where I live”, Mr Nardella eventually succumbed to community and political outrage and agreed to pay back $98,254 before retiring in November.

Documents provided to a parliamentary inquiry into the state Budget show that as of May, Mr Nardella had repaid back $88,250. Since then, he had “paid a further amount of $10,004” to clear the debt.

Mr Nardella told the Sunday Herald Sun yesterday that while he was “happy” to have finished the repayments, it had put him under financial strain.

“It’s been difficult living when most of the wage was going to the repayments,” he said.

Mr Nardella again denied he did anything wrong, declaring he was “acting within the rules”. “The last thing I would ever do is wrongly take money from the people of Victoria or the Parliament,” he said.

The rorting scandal was uncovered when another Labor MP, the member for Tarneit Telmo Languiller, resigned as speaker and paid back almost $38,000 after admitting to using a Queenscliff address to claim the second-residence ­allowance.

Don Nardella. Picture: Tony Gough

Opposition scrutiny of government spokesman Tim Smith said anyone who had “deceived their employer” like Mr Nardella would have lost their job.

“This was the rort that Daniel Andrews and Don Nardella originally denied was a rort so it’s pleasing to see the money has now been paid back to taxpayers,” he said.

As a result of that rort, the Andrews Government vowed it would introduce new laws to strengthen rules governing politicians’ use of allowances in Victoria.

However, the Sunday Herald Sun understands those laws are now in danger of falling over, with the government struggling to muster the numbers it needs in the Legislative Council.

Measures in the laws include a 25 per cent penalty for MPs caught rorting allowances, a tougher code of conduct for MPs, and a compliance officer to oversee the system.

The legislation also includes an independent remuneration tribunal, which would be likely to hand Victorian politicians a pay rise once a work-value assessment is done.

Some Labor ministers fear wrangling over a bill that relates to politician pay so close to a state election would be damaging.

Others say the remuneration tribunal would actually take MP pay out of the hands of politicians and should be rammed through if possible.

The coalition has backed out of supporting the plan, with key MPs arguing that it is too close to an election and it would be better to focus on cost of living policies.

Special Minister of State Gavin Jennings has said the current entitlements system is “out of date, inadequate and needs a complete overhaul”.

“These reforms provide a modern framework that will help restore public confidence in our Parliament,” he said.

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