Former Speaker Peter Slipper Found Guilty Of Dishonest Use of Taxi Vouchers
Tuesday 29 July 2014 @ 11.08 a.m. | Legal Research
Peter Slipper, former speaker of the Federal House of Representatives, was found guilty yesterday in the ACT Magistrates Court of dishonestly and knowingly misusing Cabcharge vouchers in three incidents in 2010. The trips occurred while he was still a member of the Liberal National Party, representing Fisher in Queensland. The Canberra Times reported that the trips, which were purportedly on "parliamentary business" included “visits to Clonakilla in Murrumbateman, a $25 bottle of sparkling purchased at Gallagher Wines and lunchtime stops at Wily Trout Wines at Poachers Pantry”.
Mr Slipper was appointed to the post of Speaker in 2011 by the Labor Government, but stepped down after allegations were raised about the travel vouchers and accusations of sexual harassment were brought against him by his former parliamentary staffer James Ashby. The sexual harassment charges were dropped in June this year, shortly after Mr Ashby won an appeal in the Full Federal Court against an earlier decision to dismiss the case. Mr Ashby said he was dropping the charges due to Mr Slipper’s failing mental health, as well as his inability to fund a case against “’deep pocket litigation', where one side has unlimited money, from the taxpayers.”
The Cabcharge case has been ongoing since early last year, with Mr Slipper mounting three separate legal challenges to have the case dropped. Earlier this year, the ACT Supreme Court rejected his argument that he could not defend himself without breaching parliamentary privilege (Slipper v Magistrates Court of the ACT and Turner and Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions [2014] ACTSC 85). Mr Slipper’s lawyers made a second unsuccessful attempt in June, arguing that the charges should be dismissed on mental health grounds. According to The Australian:
“The court was told that Mr Slipper’s life had spiralled into one of despair as a result of the criminal allegations, but the magistrate ruled the trial go ahead for the sake of the public interest.”
Last week, Slipper’s lawyer made a final bid to have the charges dropped, arguing that there was no case to answer because there was no legal definition of the term ‘parliamentary business’. Chief Magistrate Lorraine Walker dismissed this argument, with ABC News reporting that:
“She said it was significant that although the wineries Slipper visited were well beyond the boundaries of Canberra, they were described by him on the Cabcharge vouchers as suburbs.
Ms Walker told the court, that if parliamentary business was coincidentally conducted during travel, it did not mean the travel was on parliamentary business.”
Chief Magistrate Walker found Mr Slipper guilty of dishonestly completing the vouchers on the three days in question, which added up to a total cost of $954. She found that his practice of filling in the cab dockets by hand was not dishonest. The sentencing hearing has been set down for September 22, and The Australian has reported his lawyers may present more evidence at the hearing.
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