Matthew Guy’s chief of staff, Mitch Catlin, has resigned following revelations that he asked a wealthy Liberal Party donor to pay his private marketing business more than $100,000 on top of his taxpayer-funded salary.
Addressing the media on Tuesday morning, Guy said Catlin offered to resign after The Age revealed details of the contract that would have required an unnamed wealthy donor to pay $8,333 a month to the private marketing firm of Catlin, Catchy Media Marketing and Management, for services as a contractor described as “supporting business interests”.
State Opposition Leader Matthew Guy speaks to the media at state parliament on Tuesday morning. Credit: Wayne Taylor
Guy accepted his resignation, but said the contract was never signed.
“I value integrity,” Guy said.
A meeting of Liberal MPs in the party room was delayed Tuesday morning as the opposition faced questions about Catlin’s proposed contract for monthly payments on top of the taxpayer-funded salary.
loading
Liberal MPs were due to meet at 8am on their first day back in parliament after the winter break, but the meeting was delayed until 10am, and their joint meeting with colleagues of the nationals was postponed until 10.45 hours.
The Andrews government has released a list of 14 questions it wants Guy to answer, including: When did he become aware of the contract? What “business interests” did the contract refer to and why was Guy asked to forward the contract to the liberal donor?
The documents show Catlin hired lawyers to draft a contract for the arrangement, then sent it to Guy asking him to “send” the donor.