Former Speaker Peter Slipper has been cleared of the dishonesty charges that have haunted him for three years.
The ACT Supreme Court on Thursday struck out his conviction for using taxpayer-funded taxi vouchers for visits to Canberra region wineries on three occasions in 2010.
The decision means he will no longer have to undertake 300 hours of community service or repay $954 to the Commonwealth imposed on him by an ACT Chief Magistrate Lorraine Walker in September.
Justice John Burns, in finding Ms Walker erred on 12 occasions when convicting Mr Slipper, said the former MP's guilt was only one of the possible inferences available from the evidence.
Ms Walker found Mr Slipper had travelled to the wineries for "purely personal" purposes that did not fall under parliamentary business.
According to his driver, Mr Slipper had shown signs of intoxication on one of the trips which was consistent with him visiting the wineries for the purpose of tasting wine, she said.
But Justice Burns found the definition of parliamentary business was broad.
"A great deal of trust is reposed on MPs to use their entitlements only for parliamentary business," he said in his judgment.
"To the extent that an MP may abuse their entitlements, this may be dealt with by the parliament itself or by the MP's electorate."
Mr Slipper lost his Queensland seat of Fisher at the 2013 federal election.
The only two witnesses who could verify Mr Slipper's movements, former staffer Tim Knapp and Mr Slipper's wife Inge-Jane Hall, were not called to give evidence at his trial.
Justice Burns also found the prosecution failed to prove Mr Slipper wasn't performing committee work while attending the wineries, which are part of the viniculture, hospitality and tourism industries.
Mr Slipper could have been informing himself about those businesses, Justice Burns said, describing Ms Walker's reasoning process as "quite tenuous".
The former MP stepped down as Speaker of the House of Representatives in 2012 amid separate allegations of fraud and sexual harassment. The harassment suit was dropped.
Mr Slipper did not appear in court on Thursday.
