Liberal MP Alan Tudge caught out in disclosure breach over Melbourne house

Liberal MP Alan Tudge is in hot water over a $1 million Melbourne home transferred to his ex wife.

EXCLUSIVE

Education Minister Alan Tudge has admitted he forgot to disclose to parliament that he had transferred ownership of a $1 million Melbourne property to his former wife for six months, in a clear breach of disclosure guidelines.

The missing in action Minister – who stepped down from the frontbench last year in the wake of an ongoing scandal over an extramarital relationship with former Liberal staffer Rachelle Miller – confirmed the error on Friday following an investigation by news.com.au.

It follows controversy over a recent $500,000 payout to Ms Miller – who worked in his office as a press secretary – that was also revealed by news.com.au last month, with questions still yet to be answered on what the payout is for.

The Prime Minister announced last year that Mr Tudge was not returning to the frontbench of his own volition.

Former Education Minister Alan Tudge is in hot water after failing to disclose a change to his property portfolio in time. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

The controversy comes as questions continue to surround a $500,000 payout given to his former mistress and press secretary Rachelle Miller by the Federal Government. Picture: ABC/Four Corners

However, on the same day he announced the election, he revealed Mr Tudge was still the education Minister but had stood aside and was welcome back after the votes were counted.

“Well, he stood aside. He decided to stand aside for his own personal reasons. And should he be in a position to be able to step up again, then I would welcome him back,’’ Mr Morrison said.

News.com.au’s investigation into Mr Tudge’s real estate holdings has revealed the cabinet minister transferred the previously jointly owned investment property in Vermont, Victoria to his wife in July, 2018.

However, Mr Tudge failed to update the parliamentary register of interests to parliament until nearly six months later in January, 2019.

He also incorrectly signed and dated that update as January 2018.

The rules state records must be updated within 28 days – a deadline he missed by five months.

Under ministerial guidelines, Mr Tudge would also have been required to update more detailed property records with the Prime Minister’s office when he bought and sold property.

It’s not clear whether he did so when Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull led the party, until August 24, 2018, or afterwards when Prime Minister Scott Morrison was elected by the party following a leadership spill.

Mr Tudge conceded that with hindsight, the update could have been clearer and been made earlier.

“Due to an administrative oversight, in 2018 there was a delay in updating Mr Tudge’s register of interest to reflect the sale of his home and removal of his interest in an investment property,’’ a campaign spokesman said.

“Mr Tudge acknowledges that this update could have been made in a clearer and more timely way.

“Mr Tudge has always worked to ensure that any interest that he has acquired has been declared appropriately.”

Mr Tudge updated his register in January 2019 to remove the property sold from his register and to reflect that rent was no longer being received on the property which had been transferred to his former wife Teri.

Mr Tudge rented a property for some time until he purchased a newproperty in his own name. He declared the purchase of this property in his own name in October 2020.

Land title documents show a Vermont home jointly owned by MP Alan Tudge and his ex-wife Teri was transferred entirely into her name in 2018.

Land title documents show MP Alan Tudge transferred the title of the Vermont home he shared with ex-wife Teri entirely into her name in 2018, but failed to update his register of interests until January 2019.

Mr Tudge failed to update his register of interests until January 2019 (pictured).

According to a Liberal Party spokesman, Mr Tudge currently owns two properties – one in ‘Melbourne’ and another investment property in Canberra where he lives when parliament is sitting.

The 2018 property transfer of Mr Tudge’s investment property to his former wife followed a breakdown in the marital relationship after the disclosure of his extramarital affair with Ms Miller.

The property’s value is now estimated at around $1.4 million.

News.com.au’s investigation into Mr Tudge’s property holdings also suggests he has applied to legally suppress all records of his real estate holdings from Victorian Lands Title search records.

This means it’s impossible to check whether another property purchase update to his register in October, 2020 was conducted in a timely fashion.

Despite confirming to parliament that he owns property “in Melbourne” the Victorian Lands Title Records have no evidence of Alan Edward Tudge owning any property in Victoria.

His records only appear to become discoverable when searching for his former wife.

Mr Tudge is also silently enrolled for privacy reasons, which means his home address cannot be verified.

It has also emerged that Mr Tudge is no longer living in his electorate of Aston but in the neighbouring Liberal-held electorate of Deakin, the domain of his friend the Housing Minister Michael Sukkar.

Mr Tudge (right) actually lives in the electorate of Deakin, represented by Michael Sukkar (left), but is able to represent his seat of Aston due to a special exemption that allows MPs to nominate their electoral office as their address for voting purposes.

However, he still plans to vote in Aston despite living in Deakin because he’s applied for a special exemption that allows MPs to vote in the electorate they represent and nominate their electorate office as their address.

“Mr Tudge lives in an area which was part of Aston until a redistribution put the suburb into Deakin. Under the electoral rules, he is still enrolled to vote in Aston. He keeps his physical address off public records due to threats to himself and his children.”

Section 99(4)(b) of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 provides that a member of the House of Representatives is entitled to be enrolled to vote in the Division the member represents instead of the division in which the member lives.

Mr Tudge is enrolled in Aston in accordance with this provision.

The failure to update the register is the same error that saw former Labor frontbencher David Feeney hounded during the 2016 campaign after it was revealed he failed to declare a $2.31 million property.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton also previously failed to declare a million-dollar property his family owns in Townsville, in a blunder his office blamed on simple human error.

Originally published as Liberal MP Alan Tudge caught out in disclosure breach over Melbourne house