Gordon Nuttall ordered to repay one quarter of superannuation

Disgraced former Queensland Labor minister Gordon Nuttall ordered to repay quarter of his taxpayer-funded superannuation.

Gordon Nuttall (right) arrives at court.

Disgraced former Queensland Labor minister Gordon Nuttall has been ordered to repay one-quarter of his taxpayer-funded superannuation. Nuttall was released from jail in 2015 after serving six years of a 14-year sentence for corruption-related offences.

Today, the Queensland Supreme Court ordered he repay 25 per cent of the public contribution to his pension package, with the amount required to be repaid to the state government estimated to be about $375,000.

The state government had been seeking to recoup the entirety of Nuttall’s government super, which was valued at $1.5 million in February. Justice James Douglas said the amount Nuttall needed to repay would be determined by the current value of that balance.

Nuttall in February told the court his life had not been “a bed of roses” since he was released on parole on strict conditions.

He told the court it “beggars belief” he had spent more than five years of his sentence at a maximum-security prison given he was a model and low-risk prisoner.

“I don’t think there’s anyone in this courtroom that could begin to comprehend the horrors of that.” Nuttall said he was not standing in front of the judge saying “poor me” but did ask Justice James Douglas to allow his harsh punishment to offset any deduction from his superannuation.

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