Liberal MPs to pay back allowance claimed in error after ABC investigation, but Premier denies deliberate wrongdoing – ABC News

Three South Australian Liberal MPs, including two Cabinet ministers, will be forced to repay more than $70,000 of taxpayers' money claimed in accommodation allowances.

SA Premier Steven Marshall said the payments were claimed in error and denied there had been any deliberate wrongdoing.

It comes as it was announced on Tuesday that some SA Liberal MPs will be forced to repay money incorrectly claimed under a parliamentary allowance provided for country MPs to stay in the city on official business.

Mr Marshall said some MPs have come forward to him admitting "administrative errors" in claiming the allowance, which is worth more than $31,000 a year.

"There have been some administrative errors and I've made it clear to my team they need to make it clear what those administrative errors were and rectify them as quickly as possible, and all of that information will be provided to the Parliament this afternoon," Mr Marshall said.

"But I'm not of the opinion there's been any deliberate dishonesty."

The revelation came minutes before the Parliament released 10 years' worth of claims under the allowance, prompted by an ABC investigation into the eligibility of Legislative Council President Terry Stephens to claim.

A series of ABC stories demonstrated Mr Stephens spent significant time at his million-dollar-plus suburban Adelaide property while claiming tens of thousands of dollars in allowance.

Those questions have now been referred to the Independent Commissioner Against Corruption Bruce Lander, while the Auditor-General, Taxation Commissioner and Electoral Commissioner have also been asked to examine the senior Liberal MP's living arrangements.

Infrastructure Minister Stephan Knoll will repay more than $29,000 for all Country Members Accommodation Allowance payments made since December 2018.

He has also committed to repay another night's allowance from April 2018, saying the payment was claimed by "administrative error".

Primary Industries Minister Tim Whetstone unreservedly apologised for claiming in error more than $20,000 for 90 nights from 2012 until now.

However, he will only have to repay $6,993 for nights claimed before he became a minister in 2018.

That's because since becoming a minister he has spent nights in Adelaide beyond the annual allowance cap of 135 nights and some of those additional nights have now been substituted for those he incorrectly claimed.

Liberal backbencher Fraser Ellis has also agreed to repay $42,130.

Emails from all three MPs were tabled in Parliament, amid a tranche of allowance claims made by regional MPs dating back a decade.

Mr Knoll and Mr Ellis's commitments to repay are based upon wording in a Remuneration Tribunal determination, which require members to incur "actual expenditure" in order to claim the allowance.

The ABC has previously revealed that Mr Ellis stayed rent free at the Norwood residence of fellow Liberal MP Terry Stephens while claiming the allowance.

Mr Whetstone said an audit by his staff identified "a number of administrative errors where claims had been made for nights which were not eligible as required by the guidelines".

He said he took "full responsibility".

"I apologise to the people of Chaffey and to South Australia for those errors," he said.

"But what I will say is that all of that information has now been provided to the Parliament and it is now publicly available."

Mr Knoll said he believes he "complied with all of the guidelines in relation to the claiming of this allowance".

"I do stay with my parents and I do incur expenses when I do so, but it is fair to say that since the November 2018 determination, there has been ambiguity around this allowance," he said.

"Until that ambiguity is resolved, I have sought to, out of an abundance of caution and to put this issue beyond doubt, I've repaid that money and I am not going to claim the allowance until that ambiguity is resolved."

A further two regional Liberal MPs, Adrian Pederick and Peter Treloar, have retrospectively amended their returns to change dates that they stayed in Adelaide, but have not sought to repay money.

Mr Marshall admitted greater transparency was needed, and said both the Speaker of the House of Assembly Vincent Tarzia and Legislative Council President Terry Stephens would push for records of the Country Members Accommodation Allowance to be published monthly.

Mr Marshall said the government had also written to the Auditor-General, seeking increased scrutiny, including random audits.

"We need to assure the people of SA that when their money is spent it's spent in accordance with the guidelines," Mr Marshall said.

He said the government would also write to the state's remuneration tribunal seeking "greater certainty and clarity" over when the allowance could be claimed.

"I think there has been ambiguity over a long period of time and it's now time to clean up this situation and provide much greater certainty going forward," the Premier said.

However, Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas said both Mr Knoll and Mr Whetstone should be dumped from Cabinet.

"This is unacceptable the Premier's got to show leadership," he said.

"I mean, we're talking about taxpayers' money here going into the direct pocket of members of Parliament and what Steven Marshall wants to do is have everyone look the other way."

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Liberal MPs to pay back allowance claimed in error after ABC investigation, but Premier denies deliberate wrongdoing - ABC News