Greens demand answers after minister ducks question on legal bills

Greens MPs have questioned every Liberal minister about taxpayer-funded legal bills, with most denying costs but one minister refusing to answer.

Minister Jane Howlett. Question time in the Tasmanian House of Assembly. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

Taxpayers have the right to know which government ministers or MPs are the beneficiaries of hundreds of thousands of dollars in public funding to cover their legal bills, the Greens say.

Party MPs asked every Liberal minister appearing before budget estimates committees the same question: “in the past 18 months, have you as an individual incurred any legal costs that have been covered by taxpayer dollars?”

Premier Jeremy Rockliff said he had not.

“I see where this is all going, Dr Woodruff. Me, personally – I can’t speak for others – but no,” he replied.

Ministers Bridget Archer, Nick Duigan, Gavin Pearce, Jo Palmer, Felix Ellis, Eric Abetz and

Kerry Vincent also all responded in the negative, with Mr Vincent adding “ I can honestly say I avoid lawyers.”

Attorney-General Guy Barnett said it was an inherent part of his job.

“As an Attorney-General and as a minister, I take legal advice with respect to a whole range of matters on an ongoing basis. I’m not going to go into any detail in that regard,” he said.

Minister for Environment Madeleine Ogilvie responded “yes” and Minister for Racing Jane Howlett declined to answer.

“I don’t believe that that’s relevant to the output in this budget, our portfolio,” she said.

Greens leader Rosalie Woodruff pressed the question, without result: “Every single other minister has answered these questions and not made an excuse not to answer them. Could you please answer the question?”

Ms Howlett replied: “As I said, I don’t believe the question is relevant to the budget output.”

Greens Integrity spokeswoman Cassy O’Connor said taxpayers had the right to know who their money was being spend on.

“We got straight answers from nearly every Minister – with one notable exception.

“While all her colleagues engaged with our questions, Minister Jane Howlett refused point blank. It begs the question – why?

“Why won’t she tell us if she’s had legal fees covered by the taxpayer? Has she lawyered up to handle some legal matter the public doesn’t know about?”

“The government should provide the bare minimum of transparency by giving us the full list of MPs who have had the taxpayer fund their lawyers, how much has been spent on each of them, and a reason why.

“This is public money, and the public have a right to know.”