THE opposition has called on Member for Narungga Fraser Ellis to publicly address why he handed back more than $42,000 in taxpayer money as part of the parliamentary travel allowance scandal which saw three government ministers resign over the weekend.

Following the release of 10 years’ worth of Country Members Accommodation Allowance in State Parliament last week, Mr Ellis voluntarily repaid $42,130 dating back to December 2018.

The Narungga MP, whose electorate covers the Mallala and Dublin areas, will remain in his seat despite ministers Stephan Knoll and Tim Whetstone resigning from Premier Steven Marshall’s cabinet on Sunday.

Mr Ellis is yet to speak publicly regarding the scandal, but in a statement he denied any deliberate wrongdoing.

Opposition treasury spokesperson Stephen Mullighan, speaking to The Bunyip, called on Mr Ellis to address the situation, saying he has “very serious questions to answer”.

“Fraser Ellis can’t keep hiding from the public and the media about this serious issue,” he said. “This is an issue involving tens-of-thousands of dollars of taxpayers’ funds.

“I think what you see here is the Liberal Government’s strategy ‘if we just ignore this for long enough it’ll eventually go away and the focus of media attention will move elsewhere’.

“The problem is, it looks like this practice was so widespread and these claims have been made incorrectly so often, that these issues and these stories will continue to come out.

“I fully expect the media will turn its attention to Fraser Ellis, not allowing him to avoid scrutiny and avoid answering very serious questions which need to be answered by him, around his accommodation allowance claims.”

Mr Ellis comfortably won his seat at the 2018 State Election to join parliament for the first time.

He did not respond to The Bunyip’s request for comment.