A former Liberal staffer has told a parliamentary committee she spent months doing campaign work for Jane Howlett instead of the taxpayer-funded advisory role she was hired to perform.
Shari Ann Minnikin-Smith appeared before the Select Committee on Caretaker Conventions today, telling MPs she was employed in November 2023 as an adviser to Liberal upper house member Leonie Hiscutt.
Minnikin-Smith said she worked for Hiscutt for about two weeks before being directed by Howlett to work exclusively on her election campaign.
Howlett quit as the Legislative Council member for Prosser in February 2024 and stood for the House of Assembly at the March election.
Minnikin-Smith told the committee her work on the campaign included doorknocking, letterboxing, organising contact lists and attending events.
“Rather than primarily performing the duties of a parliamentary adviser, I found myself continuing to undertake campaign-related work,” she said.
“Over time, I began to feel that I had been employed for a purpose different from the role I believed I had accepted,” she said.
She said one incident stood out, when she was directed to use her government email account to send political campaign material to residents on the Tasman Peninsula.
“It was in the work time and it was sent through from the media office to send out,” she said.
“I was concerned and I contacted the Department of Premier and Cabinet,” she said.
“I spoke to the manager and I said that this is what I had been instructed to do by Jane and I was not comfortable with it because I know it is not okay,” she said.
She said the manager told her not to worry and that nothing would happen.
The email was later described as a staffer’s honest mistake, something Minnikin-Smith rejected.
“It was not my mistake,” she said.
She told the committee she was not the only person doing political work while being paid from the public purse.
“I do know there has been other staffers for Jane Howlett who would campaign for her,” she said.
Following the revelations in the committee hearing this morning, a state government spokesperson said “an ex-employee” made a “series of incorrect claims under parliamentary privilege”.
Howlett had been initially scheduled to also front the committee today, however her name was removed from the schedule yesterday.
Pulse understands Howlett has been in hospital this week and has a medical certificate covering this week and next.
Howlett quit cabinet in June amid a dispute over a 400,000 legal bill linked to a secret Supreme Court case.
