The Victorian Ombudsman has today dismissed Labor’s malicious and baseless referral of The Nationals Member for Lowan Emma Kealy.
The Ombudsman found: “The 2 July 2018 email concerning a purported request to amend invoice dates mischaracterised a request to amend a newspaper subscription to end before writs were issued for the 2018 Victorian state election”.
In his grubby referral, Deputy Premier James Merlino also launched a cruel attack on Ms Kealy’s hard-working electorate staff.
Today, the Ombudsman found Ms Kealy’s staff had acted above board and “consistently taken active steps to comply with the Members’ Guide’s requirements”.
Comment attributable to Leader of The Nationals Peter Walsh
The Victorian Nationals welcome the Victorian Ombudsman’s decision to clear Member for Lowan Emma Kealy of any wrongdoing.
The Ombudsman’s decision to dismiss the Deputy Premier’s malicious referral proves it was nothing more than a political hit to deflect attention from Labor’s shocking ‘red shirt’ rorts scandal.
Despite its grubby attempts to suggest otherwise, only Labor has been caught with its hand in the cookie jar and forced to repay nearly $400,000 of Victorian taxpayers’ money.