Rorts pressure rises for Eren
THE ministerial career of Lara’s MP John Eren hangs by a thread after a bumbling parliamentary performance that opened cracks in the Andrews Government’s rort-for-votes scheme defence.
The Sports Minister was forced to answer questions this week about why he told parliament in 2015 that he had not signed timesheets for a staff member to work in Bellarine during the 2014 election campaign.
Ombudsman Deborah Glass found last week that Mr Eren’s Lara electorate officer had worked in Bellarine.
In response, Mr Eren strug- gled to convey his answer and strayed from the government’s rehearsed lines, leaving colleagues looked stonyfaced and anxious.
Yesterday, Labor MPs were seen checking if Mr Eren had his notes prepared for Question Time, expecting the Opposition to focus on him again.
Opposition Leader Matthew Guy complied, grilling Mr Eren about whether he had hired a second electorate officer who was used to campaign for the ALP in Police Minister Lisa Neville’s seat of Bellarine.
The original electorate officer Mr Eren hired and deployed in Bellarine had resigned in March 2014, but Ms Glass said she could not check if he was replaced because lower house MPs did not co-operate with her probe.
Mr Eren did not answer Mr Guy’s question, and in a rambling response said that the Ombudsman’s report showed MPs had acted in “good faith”.
Mr Guy said that as a result of Mr Eren’s answer, the $388,000 that Ms Glass found Labor had rorted might not be the total amount taxpayers were cheated.
The awkward performance comes weeks after Mr Eren was accused by senior ministers of derailing the Government’s agenda when expletive-laden text messages sent from Labor colleague Adem Somyurek were leaked to the media.
It’s understood he received a severe dressing down from one respected minister.
In another toxic day in parliament, Labor MP Hong Lim was forced to apologise after flipping the bird in the lower house.
Cameras caught Clarinda MP Hong Lim raise his middle finger in the air repeatedly during Question Time.
Speaker Colin Brooks ordered an apology for the “clearly unacceptable” gesture, to which Mr Lim told Parliament: “I apologise to the House”.
He later said in a statement that he acted inappropriately with the gesture, but added that he had “often been a victim of racism” and a “target of ridicule”.
Liberal MP Roma Britnell had earlier lodged a formal complaint after she said Mr Lim verbally abused her in a parliament lift.
Mr Lim claimed that the exchange was “robust discussion”, but Ms Britnell claimed he launched an “out of control” verbal attack because she had complained about his earlier gesture.