Treasurer Tim Pallas’ luxury car revealed after ’get a life’ joke

Tim Pallas joked that Victorians who save for 20 years for a luxury car should “get a life”, but it has been revealed that the Treasurer is being chauffeured in a swanky ministerial car.

Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas. Picture: AAP

A WEEK after joking that Victorians who spent 20 years saving for a luxury car should “get a life”, it’s been revealed Treasurer Tim Pallas got special permission to have a Lexus as his chauffeur-driven ministerial car.

Mr Pallas’s new car is a Lexus IS350, which has a base price of about $74,000.

“Why did he receive an exemption from the normal government purchasing policy to get himself a nice little luxury Lexus to tool around in?” Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien asked, during question time.

Mr Pallas said the government was reviewing appropriate vehicles.

“We’ve had to take some vehicles off the list because they’re no longer Australian-made vehicles necessarily,” he said.

A similar Lexus model to Mr Pallas’ chauffer-driven ministerial car.

“I wonder why that is? Well because those opposite did nothing to save our domestic manufacturing industry, nor did their friends in Canberra.

“So the fact that we are in the process of looking at what vehicles appropriately fit the safety and the efficiency guidelines that we set as a government is really a demonstration of their failure to do their job in government.”

In last month’s state budget, he increased the duty on luxury cars valued upward of $100,000 from July 1, which is expected to raise $260 million.

At a post-budget lunch last week, Mr Pallas was quizzed by a journalist on why it was fair to tax someone who, for example, had saved for decades to buy a hi-spec LandCruiser.

“They’ve been saving up for 20 years for this? Get a life,” he joked.

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During the budget lockup the day before, Mr Pallas admitted to journalists he had not caught a peak-hour train to work for three years.

Last week it was also revealed he offloaded his Westpac BlueChip20 fund, which included shares in Transurban, the toll road giant in line to haul in billions from its deal with the state government to build the West Gate Tunnel.

-AAP