Murray Plains MP Peter Walsh has been given the all-clear after a scathing probe of country MPs second residence allowances.
Documents were demanded from 34 MPs, who utilise the allowance, by parliament’s internal auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), following the rorting scandal of former speaker Telmo Languiller and former deputy speaker Don Nardella.
Mr Languiller and Mr Nardella were caught claiming cash to live in the country despite being metropolitan MPs, representing the seats of Tarneit and Melton respectively.
Following the completion of the probe, auditors gave Mr Walsh the all-clear after finding he had provided enough information to prove his address in Swan Hill.
“What the process showed was country MPs have always been doing the right thing, it was only the two city MPs who deliberately rorted the system,” Mr Walsh said.
However, the auditor advised the presiding officers, Legislative Council president Bruce Atkinson and Legislative Assembly speaker Colin Brooks, that Liberal Member for Benambra Bill Tilley indicated he was “unwilling to provide relevant documentation, citing privacy reasons”.
To read more of this story, grab a copy of Monday’s Guardian (April 24).
