Hawthorn MP gets car allowance despite no car or driver’s licence

Hawthorn MP John Kennedy claims a $20,000-a-year motor vehicle allowance from the Victorian parliament, despite not owning a car and never having had a driver’s licence.

The allowance is paid to all MPs who choose not to take a car provided by the Victorian parliament as part of their employment package.

Use of the Motor Vehicle Allowance came to prominence earlier this year after Liberal MP Tim Smith lost his licence but continued to be paid the $5366-a-quarter allowance.

The allowance is designed to cover costs incurred by MPs in the course of their jobs, and it is not clear whether they can opt out of receiving it.

Kennedy said on Monday that while he did not drive and has never had a driver’s licence, he took the allowance and spent it on taxis and Uber trips. His allowance statements show he takes the funding each quarter.

MPs are also given myki cards they don’t need to top up. Kennedy lives in Hawthorn and prides himself on catching the train to work if parliament is sitting.

“It’s an automatic thing that you can either claim a car or a vehicle allowance,” the Labor MP said. “It’s a standard entitlement and one I’ve used for its intended purpose.”

Asked if he was able to opt out of the allowance, he said: “Well, you get it and it’s taxable. You offset that a bit by your Uber bills.”

Kennedy said the matter of the allowance had “got confused by Tim Smith, who was not allowed to drive, as opposed to not qualified to drive – there’s a big distinction”.

The Parliament of Victoria confirmed Kennedy was entitled to the allowance regardless of his inability to drive.

Multiple Liberal Party members, who are not part of candidate John Pesutto’s campaign for Hawthorn, raised the vehicle allowance with The Age. Having highlighted it, the party then declined to comment on the issue.

The Liberal Party’s campaign headquarters did, however, send out a media release attacking teal candidate Melissa Lowe on Monday.

Included with the release was a dossier of Twitter posts that the Liberals claimed showed Lowe had effectively selected herself as the teal candidate to run for Hawthorn.

A spokesman for Lowe’s campaign said the reality was that the Twitter account now called @Mel4Hawthorn, which was at the heart of the Liberal Party claim, had previously been named @HawthornInd and was simply renamed when she was selected.

“All tweets before this date were by the campaign that set out to find a local candidate, and not Melissa Lowe,” the spokesman said.

“It is disappointing, and frankly sad, that the Liberal Party is choosing to engage in a campaign of disinformation.”

For the next four weeks, The Age will be reporting closely on Hawthorn, where candidates from Labor, the Liberals, the Greens and a community independent are vying to win.

What happens in the seat will signal whether the revolt against the major parties that was notable in May’s federal election – when eight independents were elected to the lower house – will flow onto state politics.

A Resolve Political Monitor poll on Friday showed strong support for third parties, as well as a dominant two-party preferred position for the government.

This story is part of our in-depth local coverage of the key seats of Hawthorn, Melton and Richmond at the November state election.

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