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Aussie premier promises crackdown on "appalling" allowances after 2 politicians resign

Xinhua, February 27, 2017 Adjust font size:

The Premier of Victoria has promised a crackdown on the "appalling" abuse of entitlements by Members of Parliament (MPs).

The promise by Daniel Andrews came in the wake of two prominent government MPs, Speaker Telmo Languiller and Deputy Speaker Don Nardella, stepped down after it was revealed that they were abusing parliamentary entitlements.

Andrews said that the decision by the two men to resign from parliament over the "appalling" abuse of entitlements was the "right decision."

"That, in my judgement, was the only course of action left to them," Andrews said in comments published on Monday.

Languiller and Nardella were revealed to be claiming a living allowance intended for country MPs despite representing electorates in the western suburbs of Melbourne.

Under parliamentary rules, MPs are allowed to claim a "second residence" allowance if their home is more than 80 kilometers from Melbourne's CBD and they keep a second property in the city to live in while parliament is sitting.

"Is it any wonder there is a cynicism, a scepticism that there is a distrust of so many members of Parliament when we see behaviour -- appalling behaviour like this?" Andrews said.

He said he would make "important changes" to ensure it would never happen again.

Andrews will meet with his Cabinet on Monday to discuss the best way to ensure the entitlements could only be claimed by those who needed them.

Gavin Jennings, the special minister of state, was asked by Andrews to examine parliamentary allowances to establish if there were any other entitlements that would fail to meet community expectations.

"Essentially I've asked the Special Minister of State to give me advice on changing the rules so that this can never happen again and that the rules, as we look to the future, are black and white," Andrews said.

"No room for interpretation, no room for what has occurred here, to ever happen again."

Both Languiller and Nardella have promised to re-pay the 28,919 U.S. dollars and 76,000 U.S. dollars they respectively claimed under the allowance. Endit