Special minister of state Scott Ryan says he could waive debts incurred by former Family First senator and by Rod Culleton

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

The former Family First senator Bob Day has been warned by the commonwealth to repay money paid to him when he was a South Australian senator.

Scott Ryan, the special minister of state, said Day had been advised by the finance department and the Senate department that he was legally required to pay back money earned when he was senator.

Day resigned in November over the liquidation of his building companies but the high court ruled unanimously last month that he was ineligible to be a senator because he had an “indirect pecuniary interest” in an agreement with the commonwealth.

Rod Culleton told to repay Senate salary and entitlements Read more

A majority of the court found that Day was ineligible from 26 February 2016. He was paid close to $130,000 between then and his November resignation.

Ryan said Day had been warned he was required to repay the salary and superannuation he earned as a senator, and similar letters had been sent to former One Nation senator Rod Culleton.

The minister said the government could waive the debts incurred by both men but they would have to make a formal request.

“I need to be very careful in what I say here, because I may have a future decision-making role I cannot prejudge,” Ryan told Sky News on Wednesday.

“What I can say, and I’ll have more to say to this before Senate estimates committees next week, is that letters from the Department of the Senate and the Department of Finance, they are two responsible authorities for different parts of allowances, have gone to Mr Day and Mr Culleton.

“There’s a process that will play out there. They’ve been offered certain options. As I understand it, because those letters have not come from me, their debts have not yet been raised.



“But there’s a process to go through that any citizen can apply for about the waiver of a debt to the commonwealth, and at the moment I am the responsible minister for that process, right across government.”

Ryan could waive the debts incurred by Day and Culleton through an “act of grace”.

There is an avenue that is clear to write to the privy council and I will be doing that Rod Culleton

Culleton has told Guardian Australia he will not be answering the letter from the finance department.

He also says he will challenge the high court’s ruling that he was not eligible to run for the Senate by appealing to the highest court in the British legal system.

The high court unanimously ruled that Culleton was not eligible to run for the Senate at the time of his election in July 2016 because of his larceny conviction, which was later annulled. He was disqualified under sections 44 and 45 of the constitution.

But Culleton said he would be writing to the UK privy council to overrule the high court.



“There is an avenue that is clear to write to the privy council and I will be doing that,” Culleton told the ABC.

When it was pointed out to him that legislation passed in the UK and Australia in 1986 made it virtually impossible for Australian citizens to make applications to the privy council to overrule the high court, Culleton said he did not agree.