A South Australian Liberal MP who stood down from the shadow road safety portfolio after losing his licence for three months says he regrets not telling his party leader until after his suspension was lifted.
Tim Whetstone, whose seat of Chaffey covers the flood-hit Riverland region, announced he would step down from the shadow road safety portfolio on Friday after telling Liberal leader David Speirs about his loss of licence.
Mr Whetstone said he opted for "voluntarily relinquishing" his licence for three months after an accumulation of demerit points, rather than risk getting any more demerit points and losing his licence for 12 months.
He now has his licence back.
Speaking to ABC Radio Adelaide this morning, Mr Whetstone said the demerit points were for "minor speeding offences".
"The majority of them were under 10 kilometres and losing two points at a time," he said.
"And I'm not proud of what happened, and I don't shy away from it."
Mr Whetstone apologised to his constituents and "all South Australians".
"I've paid the penalty for three months' loss of licence, and I did that living 14 kilometres out of town," he said.
"It's been a significant burden on me, it's also been a burden on my portfolios.
"Losing the road safety portfolio is something that I've taken very seriously."
Mr Whetstone said he regretted not telling Opposition Leader David Speirs until after he already had his licence back and acknowledged it was "not a good look", but said he had been focused on his day-to-day work.
"It dawned on me that I would let David Speirs know that I had previously lost my licence, and I did that in good faith," he said.
"I didn't not tell him with any malice."
Mr Whetstone said the traffic offences occurred were "while working" in his job as a regional MP.
"I do a lot of kilometres, about 2,000 every week, and I've just been quite consumed by the floods, I've been consumed by my day-to-day ambitious diary and it all caught up with me in the end," he said.
"I think I've upheld my obligations to my job and I didn't step away from any commitments or attending any events that I needed to and particularly looking to keep my community well-informed and keeping them safe," he said.
Mr Whetstone has retained his other shadow portfolios of police and community safety, corrections, and mental health and suicide prevention.
"I continue to do my other shadow portfolios in the best manner that I can, with a licence," he said.
"And I'll make sure that I don't make headlines for all the wrong reasons."
Opposition Leader David Speirs said on Sunday that he was disappointed Mr Whetstone did not disclose he had lost his driver's licence until he had it back.
Mr Speirs said he requested Mr Whetstone attend a meeting at his Hallett Cove office once the issue was brought to his attention.
"He and I had a frank, serious and difficult discussion where I expressed my disappointment as the leader of the party," he said.
"I would have liked to have known a bit sooner."
Mr Speirs said Mr Whetstone had been doing a "great job" in the Riverland, but he needed to step down from the road safety portfolio.
"There was an incompatibility with a multitude of driving offences and the road safety portfolio in particular," he said.
"There's a level of potential hypocrisy if you're putting forward policy around road safety and community messaging around road safety and having a not-so-good driving record.
"So Tim agreed to step down, there wasn't really much of an option there from my point of view."
Mr Speirs has taken over the shadow road safety portfolio in the interim before someone else is appointed.
"Tim's paid the price, he's been publicly humiliated, he's lost one of his portfolios and we'll just have to move on," Mr Speirs said.
