Taxpayers on the hook as report calls for MP’s staff to be allowed to ‘support’ party political debate

A review of rules for political staffers, that was triggered by a corruption investigation, has called every State MP to get an extra electoral officer and opened the door for them to do party political work at taxpayer’s expense. Based on an advertised salary of $84,582 - $102,124, the overhaul could cost taxpayers about $9 million. The inquiry by former Federal Liberal MP Ben Morton has recommended new laws to define “public duties” for electorate officers, after a Corruption and Crime Commission report found staff were already performing “party-political work” during office hours. Roger Cook said the Government has accepted the report’s 31 recommendations “in principle” and praised the State’s “hardworking” electorate officers. “My government will now commence a process to consult with all parties and stakeholders to work towards a model that can be legislated with multi-partisan support,” the Premier told State Parliament. Mr Morton found the current definition of parliamentary business by the Salaries and Allowances Tribunal is “broad and imprecise” and the question of where to draw the line is a “difficult one”. He’s recommended a new framework, to ensure MPs and their electorate officers can “fulfil their duties to provide a public good”, and to provide a clear definition of public duties. The report said that should include electorate, parliamentary and party-political duties — including attending party conferences, and developing election strategies — but there would still be restrictions. “Activities that directly solicit votes or political party membership, provide instructions on how to complete a ballot paper, relate to managing a political party, or are for personal or commercial activities, fall outside the scope,” the report said. “These exclusions provide practical boundaries that support public confidence in the integrity of MP’s use of publicly funded support.” An independent agency was proposed, to provide compliance assessments on “permissible” use of public resources. The report said taxpayer-funded resources shouldn’t be denied from activities that contribute to an MP’s re-election, calling it “unavoidable”. and the current resourcing framework “outdated, fragmented and insufficient”. Mr Morton recommended staff allocation for each MP increase from two full-time officers to three, to cope with a growing workload and safety concerns. “Workloads have grown significantly, driven by rising community expectations” the report said. “At the same time, electorates have grown as a result of population growth and electoral reform.” It noted that WA staffing levels are lower than all other mainland states. Last year’s CCC inquiry was sparked by Sanja Spasojevic, who worked in then-deputy premier Roger Cook’s electorate office in Kwinana. “During the course of her evidence, Ms Spasojevic said two startling things,” the CCC report stated. “The first was that she was explicitly tasked by Mr Cook with fast-tracking the Good to Go (G2G) pass applications of Labor Business Roundtable members and their families to facilitate their travel into and out of Western Australia. “The second, was that electorate office staff provided to members of Parliament often performed party-political work during the hours they were publicly paid as electorate officers.” The CCC made no adverse findings, but found there was a “risk” of serious misconduct due to lax time-keeping.