The ACT's four federal politicians have billed taxpayers more than $700,000 in expenses between July and December last year, new figures show.
The report released by the Department of Finance this week on the expenditure of both current and former MPs revealed $732,327 was spent by ACT politicians in the second half of last year, an increase of almost $80,000 compared to the previous six months.
In the first report to detail the expenses of MPs since last year's federal election, Fenner MP Andrew Leigh was the biggest spender out of ACT MPs, with more than $249,000 in expenses.
Liberal senator Zed Seselja was close behind with a bill to taxpayers of $227,000, while Canberra MP Gai Brodtmann lodged more than $167,000 and Labor senator Katy Gallagher had an expenses bill of $89,000.
Related Content
As an assistant minister, senator Seselja racked up the largest travel bill out of the four MPs, with $27,400 spent on domestic flights during the six-month period, with a further $17,000 spent on car costs.
Senator Seselja also had the highest cost for office facilities at $114,000, the only ACT federal politician to have six-figure office expenses.
The Liberal senator said the cost of the lease for the Civic-based office was already determined before his election to the senate.
"However, I have made the decision to relocate to Gungahlin to ensure greater access to the community and lower costs to taxpayers," he said.
"Now that the lease has ended, this relocation is occuring."
Ms Brodtmann was the only ACT MP to charge taxpayers for international travel, with just more than $12,000 spent on a week-long trip to South Korea in late October.
The trip was alongside Veterans' Affairs Minister Dan Tehan for bilateral meetings as well as a commemorative mission for Korea War veterans.
The Canberra MP also had the second-highest amount for office administration costs at just more than $73,000.
Ms Brodtmann said that expense was "the cost of serving and communicating with my electorate, which has the largest number of electors in the country".
More than half of Andrew Leigh's expenses came from office administrative costs which includes flyers and other printed items, coming in at $165,000, more than the other three ACT politicians combined.
A spokeswoman for Dr Leigh said the MP was within the allocated budget for parliamentarians for the printed materials.
"The communications budget is proportional to the number of electors, and reflects the fact that Fenner is the second-most populous electorate in Australia," she said.
A further $2,630 was spent in the ACT during the six months or relocating or refurbishing offices outside of Parliament House.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull had the largest expenses bill out of all MPs at almost $870,000, with $509,000 spent on international flights, with Foreign Minister Julie Bishop having the second largest expenses bill at $745,000.
In the six months between July and December last year, $115,000 was spent by former MPs on domestic flights using the controversial Life Gold Pass.
The release of the expenditure report on Thursday coincided with a decision handed down by the independent Remuneration Tribunal, giving every MP a 2 per cent pay rise.
The pay rise will come into effect on July 1, which is also the same day that MPs will benefit from a drop in the top tax rate from 49 to 47 per cent.
0 comments
New User? Sign up