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| Image: The Sydney Morning Herald 2017 |
This time
over the excessive costs associated with his taxpayer-funded 4G home Internet
connection.
He has been
charging taxpayers more than a $1,000 a month for Internet access since 2016 and
by 2018 the cost had risen to over $2,000 a month.
The reasons being
given by Robert for why he didn’t avail himself of cheaper alternatives don’t really
stand close scrutiny.
Given this
Liberal MP’s history (see below) one immediately wonders if a third party individual/
corporation signed his contact with the Internet Service Provider (ISP) and
this increased the cost to taxpayers or whether Robert has a pecuniary interest
in that particular ISP.
Prime
Minister Scott Morrison has
requested that these expense claims be investigated by Special Minister for
State Alex Hawke who himself is under
a cloud when it comes to parliamentary expense claims.
Once his
parliamentary expenses drew media attention Robert was quick to commit to
paying back Internet charges reimbursed by the Dept. of Finance. At a quick estimate that would be somewhere in the vicinity of $25,000, although reportedly he puts the estimate as a little over $20,000.
Parliamentary expense claims are not the only issue for the Member for Fadden.
On 6 October 2018 The West Australian reported that:
Parliamentary expense claims are not the only issue for the Member for Fadden.
On 6 October 2018 The West Australian reported that:
A company run by a Federal minister who charged taxpayers $2000 a month for internet access lodged documents removing him as its director only after the matter was queried by The Weekend West.
Until late yesterday ASIC records showed Assistant Treasurer Stuart Robert was a director of an alternative health franchise business, despite Mr Robert telling Parliament a month ago he quit the board of Cryo Australia when he returned to the ministry.
In February
2016 Stuart Robert was sent to the backbench in disgrace after just three years
as a federal government minister.
It is barely six weeks since he returned to the ministry on the back of Scott Morrison’s politically bloody ascendancy and it appears that there has been no lesson learned.
It is barely six weeks since he returned to the ministry on the back of Scott Morrison’s politically bloody ascendancy and it appears that there has been no lesson learned.
A Brief History
10 FEBRUARY
2016 In
which then Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott gives the nod for then
Assistant Defence Minister Stuart Robert to help smooth the way for a big
Liberal Party donor and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull inherits a problem
12 FEBRUARY
2016 Minister
for Human Services & Minister for Veterans' Affairs showing his contempt
for the Australian electorate
14 FEBRUARY
2016 Liberal
MP Stuart Robert's resignation as Australian Minister for Human Services raises
more questions than it answers
21 FEBRUARY
2016 The
Liberal Member for Fadden - drowning not waving
20 MAY 2016 Federal
MP Stuart Robert channelled $70,000 from his Liberal Nationals Party campaign
fund to three local government candidates
27 SEPTEMBER
2017 Australian
Politics in 2017: Financial Fog Unlimited #2
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