News location:

Canberra Today 15°/18° | Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Seselja: Labor misused public servants

IN the latest on the ACT Labor Government and Opposition’s spat over the misuse of political party time, the Liberals have revealed new information that public servants had unnecessarily worked overtime for the Labor Party’s campaign at the last election.

The information, obtained by the Opposition under the Freedom of Information Act, reveals public servants were asked to “stay back” after hours and the Labor Party headquarters were included in emails between Treasury and Ministerial offices during the 2008 election campaign.

ACT Opposition Leader Zed Seselja said that the documents revealed communications that could potentially erode confidence in the separation of the Labor Party and the Public Service.

“We have seen multiple emails that reveal Ministers’ political staff asking for feedback for on campaign announcements, which the government claims is completely appropriate,” Mr Seselja said.

“In one particular instance, public servants were requested to stay back and work after hours so the Labor Party is able to make a campaign announcement the following day.

“ACT Labor’s campaign manager was included in such emails between the public service and staffers.”

The spat began last month after reports surfaced that Liberal Party president Tio Faulkner, who works within Seselja’s office at the Assembly, had incomplete timesheets dating back to 2009.

Last night, the Opposition came back at those claims,  revealing that Chief Minister Katy Gallagher was unable to confirm whether $15,000 of improperly paid leave, to Labor staffes, dating back to the 2008 election, had been paid back.

The findings were from a report by former Auditor-General Tu Pham in 2009, which found there was “the failure to account for leave take amounts to improperly obtaining a benefit” by Labor staffers.

“The Chief Minister has set the standard and called late timesheets ‘the biggest scandal in Territory history.’ It is now apparent the biggest perpetrators may be the executive she leads,” Seselja said.


Who can be trusted?

In a world of spin and confusion, there’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in Canberra.

If you trust our work online and want to enforce the power of independent voices, I invite you to make a small contribution.

Every dollar of support is invested back into our journalism to help keep citynews.com.au strong and free.

Become a supporter

Thank you,

Ian Meikle, editor

Share this

Leave a Reply

Related Posts

Follow us on Instagram @canberracitynews