It’s good to see the Liberal Government finally being open and transparent about how many hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars they’ve spent on Ministers’ legal fees. Of course, the legal fees the government has disclosed have already been publicly revealed, thanks to dogged questioning from the Greens and Labor.
With the Premier himself admitting the Ministers’ legal fees have been paid to defend against their possible wrongdoing, significant questions remain about whether these expenses are a legitimate use of taxpayers’ money. What’s not in question is that more than $500,000 is an extraordinary amount of money for Tasmanians to spend on their MPs’ legal bills.
With the cases remaining ongoing, and the latest payment for former minister, Jane Howlett, made less than two months ago, it seems Tasmanians haven’t yet paid the full bill from the Liberals. Questions also remain about how much money the Liberals have paid towards their top public servants’ legal fees, and for what.
At least we won’t have to waste any more of Parliament’s time trying to get some basic transparency on how much the Liberals have spent on their members’ legal fees. If only they would be so open about why they’ve spent hundreds of thousands from the public purse to defend their members’ potential wrongdoing.
