Matters of Interest

Public Sector Entitlements

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (15:51): I rise to address some further comments in relation to the use of credit cards in the broader public sector. Last month, I raised the issue of breaches of Treasurer's Instructions in relation to credit cards in the office of minister Leon Bignell, and I instanced some examples where a ministerial adviser, Ms Kerry Treuel, had paid for expenses for trips within South Australia with the use of a credit card, for which it is my view she was not entitled to use within the state of South Australia, under the terms of the Treasurer's Instruction, as applied at the time. I have raised those issues publicly in this house, and no responses, of course, have been provided.

I raised those questions by way of correspondence to the Auditor-General last month, and I have sought a response from the Auditor-General as to whether or not there were breaches of Treasurer's Instructions in relation to the use by Ms Treuel of credit card entitlements for those purposes I have outlined.

I do note that, in recent days and subsequent to my letter to the Auditor-General, Ms Treuel posted on Facebook a cosy photograph of herself with Ruth Sibley, another staffer, and Leon Bignell sitting with what looks like a glass of wine, with the following sign-off:

End of an era. It has been a great eight years, but all good things must come to an end. So glad to have worked with Ruth for the past three years and Leon for the past eight years. Couldn't have asked for better workmates.

My office has pursued the issue with the Auditor-General, asking when there might be a response to the concerns I raised in the letter to the Auditor-General. They have indicated that correspondence has been received and that the Auditor-General will respond in due course.

I note that in the Auditor-General's Report, whilst there are concerns raised generally about use of government purchase cards and credit cards within the broader public sector, there is no specific reference to issued raised about the use of credit cards within ministers' offices. I think there are important issues. Of course, I am not aware whether at this stage Ms Treuel has resigned from the public sector generally or whether she has just left the minister's office and moved to another position within the public sector.

I suspect that is not the case, but the issue will be whether the Auditor-General is pursuing any breaches of Treasurer's Instructions as to whether the resignation of a ministerial staffer means that the Auditor-General would continue, if he so chose—and this is obviously a decision for him—to investigate breaches of Treasurer's Instructions or whether the Auditor-General would discontinue any investigations of concerns that have been raised as a result of a resignation from a ministerial office.

As I said, the report of the Auditor-General, in the Executive Summary Part A, does raise a number of significant concerns that the audit office has about the use of purchase cards and/or credit cards in the public sector generally.

He lists on page 25 of that report a number of concerns in relation to inaccurate purchase card registers; evidence of transactions to support payments not being submitted in a timely manner; instances where records did not clearly demonstrate that the expenditure was for business purposes—clearly a significant issue—and officers incurring or certifying expenses beyond their approved limits or approving expenditure when they were not authorised to do so. There are a number of specific concerns that he raises which do not necessarily directly coincide with the concerns I have raised with his office in relation to the use by Ms Treuel of a credit card within the minister's office.