DEPUTY Premier Paul Toole says a failure to declare income on three Bathurst rental properties was an oversight and has no intention of standing down from his role.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Mr Toole has come under fire following allegations he earned up to $127,000 renting out investment properties without disclosing the income to state parliament in an alleged breach of rules for MPs.
The latest set of disclosure forms to parliament show Mr Toole declared himself the "sole owner" of three Bathurst investment properties.
It was reported on Friday that real estate websites show the two investment properties owned by Mr Toole are listed as "leased", including one for the sum of $290 per week. However, Mr Toole wrote "n/a" in response to a question on the disclosure form whether he had any "other income" to disclose.
ALSO MAKING NEWS:
During a parliamentary hearing on Thursday, Labor MP Penny Sharpe accused Mr Toole of not disclosing he had received rent from some of those properties.
Ms Sharpe said this was a "gross breach" of his disclosure requirements as an MP, a minister and the Deputy Premier, with the MP rule book outlining members must disclose "sources of income ... all income over $500 other than salary of office".
However, on Friday morning, Mr Toole said it was a small oversight which has been rectified overnight.
"Every year we have to actually provide our disclosures, I've always been very transparent there was an error that was identified and it has been rectified," Mr Toole said.
"What we had to do was actually change one particular word, we've done that, and it has been fixed."
Mr Toole said all it was about was writing the words "rental income" and denied it was a deliberate act.
He said all his properties had always been listed, he just hadn't written the words "rental income."
"For 10 years no one has actually drawn it to my attention," he said.
"I know someone like myself is transparent. I listed the properties that I've owned over that particular time so there was no secret about that, but what was missing has been rectified very quickly."
When asked if he would consider standing down, Mr Toole said no.
"This was just a small matter that needed to be rectified. We've actually sent it up to the clerk and the clerk has now come back and acknowledged the change."
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content:
- Bookmark www.westernadvocate.com.au
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Google News
What do you think?
- Why not write us a letter to the editor ...