Dumped Victorian deputy speaker Don Nardella quits Labor Party, after refusing to repay $100k in entitlements

VICTORIA’S dumped ex-deputy speaker has effectively been booted out of the Labor Party, after refusing to repay $100,000.

Melton MP Don Nardella has quit the Labor Party, rather than repay the $100k allowance he claimed for his beachside home.

VICTORIA’S dumped ex-deputy speaker has effectively been booted out of the Labor Party, after refusing to repay $100,000 in allowances he claimed for his beachside home.

Don Nardella resigned from the party on Tuesday morning, after Premier Daniel Andrews asked him to repay the money.

“This morning I met with Don Nardella, the member for Melton, and I indicated to him as I have done for some time now, that in my judgment he should repay the money he claimed,” Mr Andrews said.

“Mr Nardella indicated he would not repay the money, so I asked for his resignation from the Victorian Parliamentary Labor Party and he provided it.

“It is self-evident that MPs representing metropolitan electorates should not claim this allowance.”

When asked if he wanted to comment on the matter, Mr Nardella told reporters: “F*** off.”

Mr Nardella will now sit on the cross bench, where he told Mr Andrews he would remain for the duration of his elected term.

“It is self-evident that MPs representing metropolitan electorates should not claim this allowance,” Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said.

Mr Nardella claimed more than $100,000 after saying he lived in the affluent beachside town Ocean Grove, about 100km from Melbourne’s CBD, rather than nominating his electorate in the working class western suburb of Melton, which is 30km from the city.

Under parliamentary rules, Victorian MPs are allowed to claim allowances if they live more than 80km from Melbourne.

The allowance is meant to help country MPs who live more than 80km from Melbourne to keep a second residence in the city.

An audit committee will examine claims made by Mr Nardella and former Speaker Telmo Languiller, who both quit their roles when the news broke 10 days ago.

Both had claimed parliamentary allowances for living more than 80km from Melbourne, despite their electorates being near the city.

Mr Languiller claimed more than $37,000 in second residence allowances while living in another affluent Victorian beachside town, Queenscliff, instead of his western suburbs electorate of Tarneit for most of 2016.

Mr Languiller has committed to repay the allowance back.

Bundoora MP Colin Brooks has been nominated as Labor’s choice for Speaker, while Bendigo West MP Maree Edwards has been picked for deputy speaker.