By Luke Voogt
The Andrews Government is “shielding” two Geelong MPs from investigations of alleged election rorts, an Opposition MP has claimed.
Lara MP John Eren and Bellarine counterpart Lisa Neville were among a number of Labor MPs who Opposition Leader Matthew Guy last month accused of misusing taxpayers’ money.
Mr Guy said Labor signed up casual employees through electoral offices but instead directed them to work in its Community Action Network during the 2014 election campaign.
Member for Western Victoria Simon Ramsay said Mr Eren and Ms Neville would have committed a “gross misuse of taxpayer money“ if the allegations were proven, using state staff for party purposes.
Mr Ramsay accused the government of blocking Ombudsman Debra Glass’s investigation.
The government’s latest tactic, an appeal to the High Court, was a third attempt to prevent exposure of the Labor “rorting”, he said.
“The Andrews Government has tried every trick in the book. Why would the Andrews Government spend millions of dollars … to prevent the Ombudsman from investigating alleged rorting of the system?
“My hope is that the High Court will throw out the Andrews Government’s appeal, like the Supreme Court did, and justice will prevail on these serious allegations.”
Ms Neville said the government had done nothing wrong.
She accused Mr Ramsey of spreading “misinformation“.
“As the government has said on multiple occasions, no rules have been broken,” Ms Neville said.
“All of my staff over 14 years … have tirelessly worked to serve the communities of Geelong and Bellarine.”
Mr Eren declined to comment while the matter was before the courts.
