Cranbourne MP Jude Perera must give an “honest, straight forward answer” on whether he had been questioned by police over any role he had in the alleged rorting of taxpayers’ money, the Liberal Nationals argue.
According to Shadow Attorney General John Pesutto, Mr Perera “can’t keep hiding behind weasel words and avoiding scrutiny,” over the “rorts-for-votes” scheme in the lead up to the 2014 State Election
“If Daniel Andrews is asking local people for their vote next month, he owes it to those voters to be completely open about this matter,” he said.
In March this year, the Victorian Ombudsman, Deborah Glass, found that the Labor Party paid $387,842 in State Government staff allowances to campaigners from 3 March to 29 November 2014.The offices of Keysborough MP and Attorney-General Martin Pakula, retired Dandenong MP John Pandazopoulos and South-East Metropolitan representatives Adem Somyurek and Lee Tarlamis were among those used.
Ms Glass found the spend from Mr Pandazopoulos’s office was $21,757 and supported Cranbourne MP Jude Perera.
The $19,931 and $15,171 from the offices of Mr Tarlamis and Mr Somyurek respectively paid for campaigners for Narre Warren North MP Luke Donnellan and unsuccessful Frankston candidate Paul Edbrooke.
When contacted by Cranbourne Star News, Mr Perera said “As this matter is ongoing, it’s not appropriate to comment.”
In a statement, Victoria Police also said: “As this is an ongoing investigation it would be inappropriate to comment further.”
The Ombudsman’s investigation into Labor’s rorting of taxpayers’ money found that Labor’s campaign in Cranbourne rorted $21,757 to win the seat, the Coalition says.
“Daniel Andrews and Labor are asking voters to trust them about not introducing any more next taxes to fund their $100 billion spend-a-thon,” Mr Pesutto said.
“Before the last election Daniel Andrews promised Victorians he wouldn’t raise or introduce any new taxes. Since then he’s broken that promise 12 times.”
