You and Tarneit MP Telmo Languiller are being criticised for claiming a second residence allowance designed for regional MPs. What situation have you found yourself in?
I’m in a very different situation to Telmo. I don’t know about his situation, I don’t want to know about Telmo’s situation, that is irrelevant to my situation. My situation is that I live in Ocean Grove. People have known that I’ve lived there since I broke up with my partner in 2014. And again with this journalist [who asked me about my living arrangements], I gave him the dates, I was open and upfront about all of this and will continue to be so. The break-up was really hard and I needed to be somewhere. I ended up at Ocean Grove and I changed all my details. My residential address is Ocean Grove; that’s where I live, that’s where I sleep and, yes, I’ve got a second residence for when I have duties in the city because coming in from Geelong is difficult in the morning. My situation is what it is. I claim the allowances and I did that under the rules and regulations Parliament has set down. When I applied, I took advice. Was I doing the right thing? What do you need?
I would not have claimed, I would not have filled out the forms or provided the information that Parliament requested me to provide if that was not the case. I would not do that; I’m not like that.
Can you understand why the public is feeling frustrated? There have been too many scandals involving politicians’ expenses and entitlements. Do you understand why people have this perception?
When I applied for the second residence allowance, I actually checked to see if that was all OK. It’s a lot of money, absolutely. Did I have a second residence? Yes, I did. Do I live in Ocean Grove? Yes, I do. What did I do yesterday [February 28]? I wrote to the Clerk of Parliament. I’m still living at Ocean Grove but I’ll no longer claim the second residence allowance. In the real sense, I do understand what you’re saying to me [about public perception]. But the thing is, I’ve always been upfront and honest with what I’ve done. I’ve followed the rules so it’s not a situation where I’ve claimed it in secret and tried to cover it up. The reason I’m in this position is because I told the truth to a journalist and subsequent to that there’s been a whole range of other stories.
What do you think the issue is then? Why has it been blown out of the water like this?
Do people think it’s appropriate and correct. I can only say I’ve done what I needed to do within the rules and regulations. People are saying, ‘Well you’ve done the wrong thing’. They’re entitled to that view. But something that’s legal, something I have demonstrated that I do, that I have done and continue to do is live in Ocean Grove. If people deem that to be incorrect that’s up to them, but it would not be something that’s incorrect. I haven’t tried to put the wool over your eyes.
Do you regret claiming the allowance considering the position you find yourself in?
Look, the thing is when you go through changes in your life – and in my case they were major changes – you then have to make decisions in terms of what you do and they were some of the decisions I made. If I had my time, would I do it again? Probably not. Would I still live in Ocean Grove? I would. Does that make me a bad person? I don’t think so. If I had done the wrong thing, if I did not live in Ocean Grove, did not have another residence in the city when Parliament sits … yes, that would make me a bad man. Then I would have to pay back the money, absolutely; wouldn’t need a Premier, wouldn’t need anybody, the Parliament, you, journalists, anybody, to tell me to do that. My own honour would mean I’d pay that money back. But that’s not the case in this instance.
Are you prepared to apologise at least?
What am I apologising about?
That’s up to you, Don. Is there anything you’d like to apologise for?
If I had done the wrong thing, if I had claimed the allowance improperly, if I had put in falsified documents, absolutely. But that’s not my situation. So it’s not a situation where it’s come to that, that I need to apologise.
The Cabinet has proposed an independent adviser over these claims. Do you think that’s a good idea to ensure this don’t happen again?
I support that, I’m happy with that. I think that’s a very good idea. I think that would clear up a number of these matters before they got to this situation. I haven’t seen the specifics, but I would probably also qualify under those rules that were discussed about where I live or if I had a second residence. We need to be accountable and I’m happy to be accountable but there also needs to be truth and reality to the situation and that’s the difficult part.
Have the recent events sparked the decision to not stand for preselection?
Yes, it has. I think it’s probably time Melton had somebody new, but it has influenced it. The difficult time I’ve had has influenced that decision. Every term you think about these things, but these circumstances have brought this up as a catalyst.
