The Victorian former deputy speaker’s refusal to repay more than $100,000 in allowances he claimed for living outside his electorate has cost him his spot in the state’s parliamentary Labor party.
Don Nardella resigned from the party after the premier, Daniel Andrews, again asked him to repay the money.
“This morning I met with Don Nardella, the member for Melton, and I indicated to him as I have done for some time now, that in my judgment he should repay the money he claimed,” Andrews told reporters.
“He indicated to me that he was unwilling to do that and I accordingly asked him to resign from the parliamentary Labor party and he has done that. It would have been far better if he’d repay the money.”
Nardella will now sit on the crossbench, and Andrews has told him to talk to the Labor secretary to decide whether he remains in the ALP outside parliament.
When asked if he wanted to comment, Nardella told reporters: “Fuck off.”
Andrews said he would not deal with “hypotheticals” when asked if Nardella could return to the party if he repaid the money. The audit committee will examine the claims made by Nardella and the former Speaker Telmo Languiller, who quit their roles 10 days ago. They had claimed parliamentary allowances for living more than 80km from Melbourne – despite their electorates being near the city.
Nardella claimed more than $100,000 after saying he lived in Ocean Grove, about 100km from the central business district, rather than nominating his Melton electorate 30km from the city.
Languiller claimed more than $37,000 in second-residence allowances while living in Queenscliff instead of his western suburbs electorate of Tarneit for most of 2016. The allowance is meant to help country MPs who live more than 80km from Melbourne to keep a second residence in the city.
The former Speaker has committed to repaying the allowance.
The Bundoora MP, Colin Brooks, has been nominated as Labor’s choice for Speaker, while the Bendigo West MP, Maree Edwards, has been picked for deputy speaker.
