2018-03-22
The Victorian Greens are calling for Labor to pay a 25 percent penalty on top of the money it rorted from taxpayers during the last election, as well as repaying the significant legal fees it spent trying to hide the Ombudsman’s investigation.
The Ombudsman has cleary found Labor misused $388,000 of public funds in the last election.
The Greens are also calling for the establishment of an independent parliamentary standards commissioner with the full powers of IBAC in light of the latest example of systematic and deliberate rorting of taxpayer money.
Quotes attributable to Victorian Greens leader Samantha Ratnam
"Labor’s deliberate misuse of public money erodes public trust, and now is the time for all members of parliament to agree that we need to uphold the standards the community rightfully has of us.
"The Greens support the Ombudsman's recommendation to clarify the rules for electorate officers, and it should be very clear that using electorate staff for party campaigning is an obvious breach of the rules"
Quotes attributable to Victorian Greens spokesperson for integrity, Sam Hibbins.
"This was a deliberate, systematic and widespread misuse of public money for political purposes by Labor party MP's including sitting members and the Labor party administration."
"These findings vindicate the Greens decision to refer this matter for investigation. As well as paying back the money along with a penalty, Labor must commit to returning the significant public funds it spent trying to stop this investigation in the courts.
"Every MP found in breach of the Members guide should apologise to Parliament"
"The Greens have long been calling for members of parliament to be held to public account for breaches of their code of conduct by an independent standards commissioner for members of parliament, and this latest controversy confirms now is the time to put it into action."