“At least two members of parliament have referred themselves for the details of their audit. But in addition to that, I’ve said to IPEA, please give us some advice, and we’ll take that on board, and when that advice is received, we’ll make a decision in the usual way.”
The prime minster had previously said when answering questions about Wells’ audit he would welcome advice from the watchdog, but had not confirmed he had sought additional advice from the agency.
Asked to clarify on what day he asked IPEA for advice, he said: “I ask all the time, publicly”.
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
The independent watchdog’s investigation of Wells, which could take months to complete, has the power to interview ministers about events for which they claimed travel entitlements, check calendars, and inspect metadata to determine if work events were scheduled around social events already locked into the calendar.
The government gave a signal earlier on Friday that reform to the entitlements could be on the table after Albanese repeatedly ducked responsibility for handling the ordeal, when Health Minister Mark Butler said the IPEA investigation could herald legislative reform.
“I think we should wait for the independent authority to provide some advice,” Butler told Sunrise when asked whether the rules needed to be changed.
“If [reforms] then have to be enacted through legislation, I’m sure, that’s what we would do.”
The Parliamentary Business Resources Act requires an independent review every three years, but the last report was finalised in late 2021.
The government has twice delayed the next review, the Australian Financial Review reports, with it now scheduled to occur in late 2027.
“What I said in my letter to the prime minister is… if he can’t stand there and tell the Australian people that this minister has not breached the [ministerial] code of conduct, then she should resign,” Ley said.
Ley has until now left attacks on the government’s expenses to her finance spokesman James Paterson as the controversy has dragged on for more than a week.
Ley said she had made “an offer to meet, to sit down in a bipartisan manner and work through measures and changes”.
Loading
“What I want to see is that public trust restored and public confidence in the system, and that’s clearly gone right off the rails under Prime Minister Albanese,” she said.
Asked on Friday about her own expense scandal, Ley said: “I put my hand up, I apologised, and I resigned, and I held myself accountable to the ministerial code of conduct”.
