A Victorian federal MP has denied allegations of misusing taxpayer funds after setting up an empty electorate office. Anne Webster, the member for Mallee, spent $24,000 on advertising for a vacant shopfront in Horsham. Julia Bergin has this exclusive story.
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00:00On Horsham's main street, in the ultra-safe national seat of Mallee, is what looks to
00:08be an office for local MP Anne Webster. Except, unlike her other two offices in the sprawling
00:14electorate, this one's empty.
00:16Look, this office is unattended. Please use the contact details above. So if you haven't
00:20got the internet, tuck titties.
00:24Horsham resident Jeanette had come here looking for help with the NDIS.
00:27It's a federal office. I would have thought with all this splashed around, somebody would
00:33have been here.
00:34I wanted to go in today, and there's nobody there, and I get redirected. And I find that
00:39rather annoying.
00:40Yes, it's a bit misleading.
00:42Mallee covers a third of Victoria, and due to its size, Dr Webster has offices in Mildura
00:48and Swan Hill, as well as access to $24,000 in federal funding to run a satellite office.
00:56That money is being used to lease the empty shop in Horsham.
00:59This year, because we're going into a federal election, it just seems useful to have at
01:05least what I would be paying for in a billboard on an office front.
01:09It looks as though it's providing services to the people who live in that town and in
01:14the surrounding area. So it's at least mildly deceptive.
01:19Under funding rules, these offices can have advertising, but any money must be spent primarily
01:25for parliamentary business.
01:27To use this apparently attractive shop in a good area as a mere billboard, well then
01:33that's absurdly unfair to those who wish to challenge the incumbent.
01:38It wasn't until the ABC put questions to Anne Webster that this line, saying the office
01:43is unmanned, was added to the shop front. Dr Webster has maintained that all money spent
01:49on the office was done appropriately.
01:51The budget just does not allow you to do much more than put stuff on the windows.
01:57If you can't lease an office and put equipment in there, why have it, really?
02:04Dr Webster will recontest her seat at the upcoming federal election.