MP’s use of

By Melissa Grant
The Browns Road resident, who anonymously contacted the Gazette, was angry to receive the letter in April which detailed an upcoming public meeting in Officer about the State Government’s Growth Areas Infrastructure Contribution (GAIC) tax.
However Mr Smith has hit back at the claims, saying the mail-out was to alert people to a joint meeting between himself, Hastings MP Neale Burgess and Eastern Victoria MP Edward O’Donohue regarding an “important issue”.
The mail-out also caught the attention of the Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) which wrote to Mr Smith to clarify the use of Commonwealth and State electoral rolls.
It was also mentioned by Deputy Premier and Attorney-General Rob Hulls when he recently spoke of the need to harmonise laws relating to the use of both rolls, following a report by the VEC.
The report found the need to clarify laws about the use of Commonwealth and State electoral rolls and their use by councillors and candidates.
“While Victorian enrolment information can be used for state election purposes only, the Commonwealth Act allows Commonwealth information to be used for local government elections,” Mr Hulls said.
“This has led to confusion, including the need to clarify the use of Commonwealth and State rolls to a Liberal MP.”
Mr Smith confirmed that the VEC had written to him about a letter he sent to a Devon Meadows resident.
“I sent out the letter to Mr Burgess’s and Mr O’Donohue’s constituent in Devon Meadows as it was easier for one person to do it,” Mr Smith said. “I think it is important that we are able to reach our residents when there is an important issue like this.”
Mr Smith said it was important to alert people to a meeting about the State Government’s “very unfair GAIC tax”.
“Obviously the Devon Meadows resident must have been an aggrieved Brumby Government supporter who objected to the fact we had raised the issue to the public’s notice,” he said.
“I trust he will be happy to pay the tax when the time comes.”
However, the Devon Meadows resident wrote, in a letter to the Gazette, that they were concerned about MPs accessing details about people living outside their electorate.
“The concern I had is that Mr Smith does not represent the Devon Meadows area and that he received my details.
“We go on about receiving overseas calls from operators attempting to sell us something – well, this is worse.”