Treasurer Troy Buswell admits bungling a second travel expense claim does not reflect well on him, but rejects opposition claims of deceit.
Treasurer Troy Buswell admits bungling a second travel expense claim does not reflect well on him, but rejects opposition claims of deceit.
The opposition has called on Mr Buswell to resign for acting in a "deceitful, cynical and seedy way" by changing the record of his travel expenses and failing to inform parliament.
It is the second time within six weeks that Mr Buswell has been called on to resign over alleged rorting of his travel expenses.
Last month, he admitted to signing off on a false claim for a living away from home allowance in a matter that Premier Colin Barnett at the time said was an innocent, though inexcusable mistake.
Mr Buswell had claimed for staying at his Shenton Park residence in Perth on July 15 when he was in Busselton in his electorate.
He repaid the $240 allowance and said it was a one-off mistake.
Manager of Opposition Business Mark McGowan today said Mr Buswell had been caught out claiming a travel allowance for the night of August 24 this year which he later changed to August 25.
Mr McGowan said that after the July 15 claim was revealed, Mr Buswell had indicated to parliament an internal review had found no further false claims.
Mr Buswell said, in relation to the August 24 claim, he had made a simple mistake, which was unacceptable, but he had written to the clerk of the Legislative Assembly on discovering it.
He said he had discovered the error while triple checking his August claim.
"A very simple error, the discovery of which upon I wrote to the clerk with an amended copy of my expense claim form and the clerk of course wrote and acknowledged that," Mr Buswell told reporters on Monday.
Mr Buswell said an internal review of his claims had been conducted by his staff and provided to parliament but failed to pick up the August error.
"It's my view my actions in and around the August claim were entirely appropriate and indeed consistent with the provision of the information which MPs have had to do from time to time," he said.
"Everything that I've said to the parliament and everything I've said publicly in my view are entirely consistent and entirely truthful and I certainly reject any claims made by Mr McGowan today to the contrary.
"Effectively, it was a simple mistake."
The clerk had informed him the system could not be audited at the moment and Mr Buswell said he had written to the premier to inform him of that.
Mr Buswell said he would be happy to provide data as part of a broader review of country MPs travel claims.
He said both errors were unfortunate.
"I don't think it's the sort of thing that necessarily reflects well on me or the government," he said.
No additional monies had been paid or repaid due to the second error, Mr Buswell said.
The treasurer said he exceeded the 120 days he was able to claim for the allowance.
"This has never been about trying to get more money out of the system," Mr Buswell said.
