Alex Somlyay

The Honourable Alex Somlyay
Member of the Australian Parliament for Fairfax
In office 24 March 1990 – 5 August 2013
Preceded by	Evan Adermann
Succeeded by	Clive Palmer
Minister for Regional Development, Territories and Local Government
In office 1997–1998
Prime Minister	John Howard
Preceded by	Warwick Smith
Succeeded by	Ian Macdonald
Personal details
Born	18 January 1946 Budapest, Hungary
Nationality	Australian
Political party	Liberal Party of Australia
Spouse(s)	Jenny
Children	3
Alma mater	Australian National University

Alexander Michael Somlyay (born 18 January 1946), Australian politician, was a Liberal member of the Australian House of Representatives from March 1990 to August 2013, representing the Division of Fairfax, Queensland.

Born in Budapest, he came to Australia as a child. He was educated at the Australian National University. Before entering politics he was a public servant, consultant economist and company director.^[1]

Somlyay was a member of the informal conservative faction the Lyons Forum when it was active in the 1990s.^[2] On 25 September 2010, Somlyay announced his current term in parliament would be his last.^[3]

Expenses investigation

An investigation by a Fairfax Media reporter published in the Sydney Morning Herald on January 2014 alleged that Somlyay had used his parliamentary office to pay his wife almost seventy thousand dollars for the year 2012-13 "for non-existent work in his electorate office."^[4] The report also alleged that Somlyay had obscured his wife's identity in his list of employed staff.^[4] Somlyay defended the payments from his taxpayer-funded budget to his wife, claiming that he had done nothing wrong.^[5] On February of the same year, the Herald again reported that the Australian Federal Police had found nothing that "would constitute a criminal offence" related to the employment of his wife and closed the investigation.^[6]

References

1. "Biography for Somlyay, the Hon. Alexander Michael". ParlInfo Web. Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 24 September 2010.
2. "The Lyons Forum". Electronic Frontiers Australia. 1997. Retrieved 24 September 2010.
3. "Lib speaks for himself,defies gag by Abbott". The Canberra Times. 25 September 2010.
4. http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/allegations-mps-wife-drew-taxpayerfunded-salary-despite-doing-no-work-20140113-30qwu.html
5. "Former MP Alex Somlyay defends employing wife to work from home as researcher". 15 Jan 2014. Retrieved 18 July 2014.
6. Swan, Jonathan (21 February 2014). "Police end probe into MP Alex Somlyay's hiring of wife". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 18 July 2014.