MPs drop $30m on expenses in three months

While the Coalition has sought to brand Mr Albanese “Airbus Albo” due to the frequency of his international trips, he has travelled no more than his recent predecessors.

Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles was the second-biggest spender on international travel, incurring $30,477 in expenses between July and September 2022.

The only non-government MP in the top 10 for international travel expenditure was the Nationals’ Darren Chester, who was selected to represent the federal parliament at the United Nations General Assembly in New York between late September and early December. The cost of the multimonth trip was $26,458.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton spent $363,003 in the three months to September 2022, including $195,876 on employee travel.

Data overdue

The release of the spending data was delayed due to a bungled attempt by the public service to upgrade the expenses’ system.

Special Minister of State Don Farrell repeatedly raised questions about the system, which is run by the Department of Finance when Labor was in opposition. After Labor came to power, Senator Farrell took the unusual step in November of asking the auditor-general to look into issues with the expenses’ system upgrade.

While politicians’ international travel spending garners significant public attention, it was just 1 per cent of the $30.7 million in spending undertaken by serving parliamentarians between July and September 2022.

Office facilities was the largest single expense, representing about $11.3 million in spending. This includes the cost of leasing electorate offices, furniture, and security.

MPs based in Sydney spent the most on their offices due to the relatively higher cost of leasing. Tanya Plibersek, whose electorate office is in the inner-Sydney suburb of Redfern, spent $161,884 on office facilities between July and September, which was the most of any parliamentarian.

The next most costly line item was office administration at $7.1 million. The figure includes spending on items like stationery and printing.

MPs and senators spent $2 million on scheduled commercial transport and received $1.5 million in travel allowances.

Federal MPs receive travel allowances when they are on the road. The payment is tax-exempt provided the MP does not double-dip by claiming their travel-related expenses in their tax return.

A backbencher receives $310 per day when they are travelling to Canberra, according to the remuneration tribunal. A daily allowance of $469 is paid on a trip to Sydney, Perth or Melbourne, $450 for Brisbane, and $461 in Adelaide.