ACT opposition staff to face audit

23 Feb 2012, 2:44 pm   -   Source: AAP
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A former commonwealth ombudsman will investigate whether inappropriate payments were made to staff of ACT Opposition Leader Zed Sejelja.

The ACT opposition leader's staff will be audited after allegations of irregular timesheets and payments for time they were not working for the parliament.

Speaker of the ACT Legislative Assembly Shane Rattenbury on Thursday appointed former commonwealth ombudsman Ron McLeod and workplace relations firm HBA Consulting to conduct the audit of staff in Liberal Leader Zed Seselja's office.

The assembly passed a motion to that effect on Tuesday last week, moved by Labor backbencher John Hargreaves, after documents showed assembly clerks had asked Mr Seselja repeatedly for more than a year to make sure his staff submitted time sheets correctly and promptly.

A letter to Mr Seselja's office from the acting clerk in August 2010 states "with the exception of two staff ... there have been virtually no attendance records lodged by any of your remaining staff since late 2009", despite claims for lieu and leave.

The clerk noted one staff member had not submitted any time sheets since starting work at the assembly after the 2008 territory election.

Mr Seselja said the problem of timesheets and related statutory declarations had now been sorted out.

Under parliamentary privilege, Mr Hargreaves raised allegations that Mr Seselja's director of electorate services, Tio Faulkner, spent most of his time out of the assembly building working in his other role as president of the Canberra Liberal Party branch.

"I am very concerned that there is the possibility - nay, the probability - that a member of the staff of the leader of the opposition has worked predominantly off site without approval, has in fact therefore drawn a salary from the Legislative Assembly ... to be the president of the Canberra Liberals," Mr Hargreaves told the assembly on February 14.

"In other words, the Canberra taxpayer is paying for somebody to manage a political party."

Mr Seselja last Thursday said Mr Faulkner performed all his duties as Liberal Party president in his own time.

"The president of the Liberal Party is a voluntary, unpaid position," he told the assembly.

"All duties done in the role of party president are conducted in his own time."

He said Mr Faulkner had a unique role as director of electorate services and needed to be out of the assembly as much as possible.

"His role requires him to travel and interact with groups and people all over Canberra, to arrange and take meetings and to assist in the formulation of policy based on what he has learnt out in the community, not here in the assembly."

Mr McLeod's audit will look at building access and computer log-in records.

Mr Seselja said many workers entered and exited the assembly building without swiping their access passes.

"The audit should be a forum for testing the allegations that I believe to be completely baseless and should not be used as a political fishing expedition," he said.

Mr Rattenbury said he hoped to outline a timetable for the audit in March.

AAP

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