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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-12-01 Daily Xml
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Ministerial Staff Expenses

Mr COWDREY (Colton) (14:44): My question is again to the Minister for Human Services. Has the minister or her office ever approved staff expenditure claims for non work-related purposes? With your leave, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr COWDREY:The Advertiser reported today:

Convicted child abuse offender Ben Waters, a senior parliamentary adviser prior to his arrest, racked up nearly $6,000 in expenses.

The Hon. N.F. COOK (Hurtle Vale—Minister for Human Services) (14:45): I thank the member for the question. I will leave the other word out. As far as I'm aware, all expenses were made under work-related activity. These expenses also, as I understand, occurred well before any arrest was made.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for West Torrens!

The Hon. N.F. COOK: So I stand by my answer: all reimbursements are work related. They were made well before any—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Florey is warned.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Minister, please be seated. The member for Florey is on three warnings and will, regrettably, need to depart the chamber under 137A, and the member for Unley will join him for the remainder of question time. The minister has the call.

The Hon. N.F. COOK: I will wait until they leave, I think.

The honourable members for Florey and Unley having withdrawn from the chamber:

The Hon. N.F. COOK: As I said before, all expenses have been made under the rules and guidelines of the act, the electoral guidelines and the EB. They were signed off and approved well before anybody was aware of any offences, any arrests. This person, this sick individual, has been tried and convicted. It has gone through a court of law. None of this was in our understanding; we knew nothing about this well before that. If you have other allegations to make in respect of how these expenses have been signed off or used, you should make them.

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