Summer is here, Parliament has risen and no doubt our more bookish leaders will use the long break to expand their horizons through literature. It's only now, with the release of expenditure reports from the first half of the year, that we get a look at what politicians were reading last summer.
Liberal National senator from Queensland James McGrath, who became assistant minister to the Prime Minister after Malcolm Turnbull's successful coup, picked up the instructional manual How to be a Minister: A 21st Century Guide.
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Final words in the Senate were complimentary and exhausted as parliament wraps up for the year. (Vision courtesy ABC News 24)
The tome was penned by former British Labour minister John Hutton, now a life peer in the House of Lords. "All ministerial careers end in failure, but they start in hope," the book's jacket proclaims, promising to guide ambitious young pollies through topics such as handling public servants, dealing with the media and "how to resign with a modicum of dignity intact".
The Baron's advice must have been worth something because Mr McGrath soon added to his belt the assistant immigration portfolio, which he held until the July election.
"The funny thing is, when you become a minister, there's no guide," he told the ABC on Thursday.
"I don't know what I don't know, I think it's the smart thing to do, don't you?"
Beleaguered Attorney-General George Brandis added to his bulging bookshelves with The Short and Excruciatingly Embarrassing Reign of Captain Abbott by Fairfax Media columnist Andrew P Street, along with other books on Tony Abbott's downfall. Senator Brandis made headlines when he spent $15,500 of taxpayers' money on a new bookcase in 2014 because his old one was too big to move.
Conservative LNP senator Barry O'Sullivan furnished his shelves with no less than six books on abortion, as well as books on austerity, democracy and militant Islam. From the extent of his subscriptions, he also appears to be keeping Queensland's regional newspaper industry in business.
Gun-loving Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie bought Barry Crump's A Good Keen Man, "the tale of a young man's introduction to the art of deer culling", and a book that at least sounded like it might have been about politics, Bastards I Have Known.
The release of expenditure reports by the Department of Finance details the litany of taxpayer-funded expenses racked up by current and former MPs from January 1 to June 30 this year.
The most expensive offices were run in NSW: Treasurer Scott Morrison, deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek and Cabinet Secretary Arthur Sinodinos all spent more than $200,000 on office costs including rent, power, security and equipment.
Among ex-MPs, former speaker of the House of Representatives Peter Slipper was the biggest spender on domestic airfares, spending in excess of $12,000 on flights around the east coast. Former Labor leader Simon Crean was also busy travelling – he spent about $8500 using his Life Gold Pass, including $3500 return flights from Melbourne to Perth.
Of former prime ministers, John Howard splashed by far the most cash, outspending his compatriots on almost every indicator. He spent $112,000 on office facilities, $13,000 on car costs, $14,000 on domestic flights and $3400 on family travel – all covered by taxpayers, of course.
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