A claim has been lodged for damages against Parliamentary Services by a former staffer wrongly called a rapist by the Speaker of the House.
Trevor Mallard has answered questions before a select committee about spending more than $300,000 of taxpayer money fighting a defamation case filed by the staffer.
Political editor Barry Soper told Simon Barnett and Phil Gifford the claim was revealed when the head of Parliamentary Services was cross examined.
"We’re not looking at the last of the pay outs. We could see more payments given - and this puts Parliamentary Services in a very difficult situation.”
Mallard said he wanted to appear before the Governance and Administration Select Committee because he cared "deeply" about Parliamentary accountability and transparency and ensured a clause was included in the settlement which allowed him to do so.
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