Minister Jennifer Rankine, who had employed a consultant to help her as Minister for Families and Communities, actually had 19 full time personal staff to help her with her job.
“Earlier this month it was revealed that Minister Rankine had spent $80,000 over four months to employ consultant Margaret Wagstaff to help her with the demands of the families and communities portfolio,” Liberal MLC Rob Lucas said today.
“Budget Papers released in June claimed that Minister Rankine’s Ministerial Office only employed 10 FTE staff with a total budget of $1.299 million.
“However, a document released under Freedom of Information reveals that Minister Rankine actually has 19 FTE personal staff in her Ministerial Office.”
The document shows that Minister Rankine has:
1 Chief of Staff
3 Ministerial Officers
1 Media Adviser
5 Ministerial Liaison Officers
1 Office Manager
1 Ministerial Assistant
7 Administrative Staff
1 Ministerial Chauffeur
“Minister Rankine should now explain why she has claimed to have only 10 FTE staff when in reality she has almost double that number,” he said.
“It is incomprehensible that a Minister with so many personal staff to help her to be a Minister should then have to spend $80,000 of taxpayers’ money on a consultant to help her.
“The answer clearly has to be that either the Minister is extraordinarily wasteful of taxpayers’ money or is extraordinarily incompetent and needs a lot of help to do her job as Minister.”