Telmo Languiller, the Speaker of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, has resigned, in the wake of a scandal over his parliamentary expenses claims.
The resignation took place following revelations that Languiller, 59, claimed around $40,000 of expenses for a “second residence” in Queenscliff, an allowance normally only available to MPs who live 80 kilometres from the Melbourne Post Office.
Languiller lives in Footscray, just outside his Tarneit electorate. Tarneit is based around Laverton North, Tarneit and Williams Landing. It is 12 kilometres from Melbourne.
Languiller has represented Tarneit for the ALP since 2014, having previously represented Sunshine (1999-2002) and Derrimut (2002-2014).
In August 2015, Bronwyn Bishop, the then Speaker of the House of Representatives, resigned over an expenses controversy involving the use of a helicopter to travel from Melbourne to Geelong.
Statement by Victorian Legislative Assembly Speaker Telmo Languiller.
Statement From The Member For Tarneit
During the last 48 hours I have had the opportunity to talk with family, colleagues and friends.
As I have already stated in the press and in the Parliament, I accept that my actions do not meet the very high standards that the community expects of its elected representatives.
No matter what difficult personal circumstances I may have been going through, I have to recognise it is an error of judgement and I accept that I should pay the price for that error of judgement.
I understand that offering to repay the allowance is not enough.
For this reason today I contacted the Premier to inform him that I would be resigning as the Speaker of the Parliament.
I regret that this issue, if not addressed, could damage the position of Speaker and the Labor Party that I love.
The Premier has provided me with much support over the last two years as I faced very difficult family challenges and I thank him for that.
I thank all of my colleagues for the support they have given me, and members from all sides of politics.
Once again I reiterate my regret at the actions I have taken and I hope that as a backbencher in the Andrews Labor Government I can rebuild trust by serving my electorate of Tarneit and my community.
