Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has topped the parliamentary expenditure list by spending $684,665.31 in travel expenses over three months in 2022.
Mr. Albanese also charged taxpayers $82,729 for overseas travel, and more than $10,198 in car costs.
Workplace Relations Minister Tory Burke came in second, having spent a total of $398,410.41 in expenses over the same period.
Staffers for the PM spent $512,232 on travel, while more than $41,000 was spent on office facilities, and $30,000 on administration.
The expenditure report tallies costings for parliamentarians’ travel, vehicle, office administration, telecommunications, as well as family and employee travel.
Meanwhile, taxpayers were charged $2,658.63 for Mr. Albanese’s family travel expenses and $5,284.93 for Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s family.
Three Labor MPs from Western Australia—Tania Lawrence, Senator Fatima Payman, and Zaneta Mascarenhas—topped family travel expenses, with the trio spending over $15,000.
Foreign Affairs Minister Senator Penny Wong spent $19,169 on international travel during that period, while Defence Minister Richard Marles spent more than $30,000.
Opposition Leader Dutton spent $363,003.73 in total expenditure, with almost $196,000 in staff travel expenses.
North Sydney MP Kylea Tink topped the list for the teal independents, spending $185,264.11, while Greens Leader Adam Bandt topped the list for the Australian Greens, having spent $248,522.81.
‘Entirely Appropriate’: Assistant Minister on Parliamentary Expenditure
Patrick Gorman, assistant minister to the PM, defended the report, saying that it was “entirely appropriate” for transparency, particularly with politicians’ use of public money.“Finally, we have the light shining in again. Constituents can see how their Members of Parliament are spending Commonwealth resources. That’s appropriate. These are taxpayer dollars.
“We need to make sure that people like myself from Western Australia can get to Parliament in Canberra. We do spend Commonwealth money to do that, but it’s important that we’re accountable for it, and that accountability has finally returned.”
Mr. Gorman added that the expenses were authorised by the Remuneration Tribunal—an independent body that sets amounts—to ensure every MP was treated fairly and there was no political interference.
“This is just being publicly accountable for the use of those expense as expense payments,” Mr. Gorman said.
“I think that’s good … ultimately when all of these discussions are done, what matters is the decisions the parliamentarians make when they’re voting on the floor of Parliament.
Expenditure System ‘Severely Mismanaged’: Don Farrell
The publication of the expenditure report comes a year after it was stalled in mid-2022 after the system was “severely mismanaged” by the former Morrison government, Special Minister of State Don Farrell alleged.He added that there would be a “fast-tracked schedule of reporting until all parliamentary expenses are up to date.”
“This should never have happened,” Mr. Farrell said.
“This system has never functioned as intended, and complaints across the parliament have been consistent since its commencement in 2018.
“From opposition, we raised hundreds of questions, over successive years, including repeated questioning at Senate estimates—all of which fell on deaf ears.
“In coming to office, we not only commenced work to fix the system, but proactively referred the project to the Australian National Audit Office for review. We expect the outcomes of that review in the new year.”
Seventy-four percent of current and former parliamentarians have certified their reports for the reporting period, the IPEA said.
