$160k on printing, $500k on staff travel: Australia’s biggest spending politicians revealed
Politicians’ spending habits aren’t passing the pub test, as data reveals Federal MPs have gouged $31m from taxpayers with expenses ranging from printing to flags and family travel. Find out who are the big spenders. TAKE OUR POLL
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Politicians’ spending habits aren’t passing the pub test, as a deeper dive into revelations Federal MPs have gouged $31m from taxpayers to cover expenses ranging from printing to flags and family travel in just three months rankle taxpayers.
The numbers, finally released by the government on Wednesday, reveal a single MP, Victorian Jason Wood, spent more than $160,000 on printing alone between July and September last year.
Industrial Relations Minister Tony Burke also spent another $88,000 on printing over that period, contributing to his overall $398,000 quarterly bill.
His overall spend was beaten only by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese who clocked up $684,000 with the biggest portion, $512,000, going towards jetting his staff around Australia and the world.
Mr Albanese spent almost $50,000 on accommodation and meals for a trip to the NATO summit with the total taxpayer bill for the journey coming to $95,000.
Coalition Indigenous affairs spokeswoman Jacinta Price suggested the PM reconsider some of his travel.
“I think as parliamentarians we have a responsibility when it comes to our travel spend,” Ms Price told Nine’s Today show.
“Some of us have quite vast electorates so it’s going to be larger than others but certainly I think the Prime Minister has to be a hell of a lot more considerate when it comes to his VIP jet bill.”
“Something has to be done, and … maybe a cap will help.”
Senator Price, who represents the Northern Territory, spent $25,199 to fly around the country – mostly from her home in Alice Springs to Darwin and Canberra.
RED FLAG
The figures, released by the government under pressure from the Coalition and the Greens painted a comprehensive picture of Australian parliamentarians’ spending habits, and the devil is in the detail.
Australians are paying an inordinate sum for flags with opposition leader Peter Dutton forking out $7000 on flags in June 2022 while Treasurer Jim Chalmers spent more than double, $15,257, on flags for himself and his office.
Industrial Relations Minister Tony Burke also spent big on travel, spending $46,000 on international trips to the US for him and his staff.
His Foreign Minister Penny Wong also spent $158,000 on her staff’s travel arrangements.
Greens leader Adam Bandt spent $15,000 on a domestic flight from Canberra to Brisbane in May 2022 during the Federal election campaign.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton spent $363,000 overall, including $195,000 on employee travel, followed by Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek whose bill came to $326,000.
In comparison, former Prime Minister Scott Morrison spent $113,000 on office administration costs in 2021 compared to Mr Albanese who spent about $30,000 on his office in 2022.
But Mr Albanese spent more on international travel compared to Mr Morrison in the second year of Covid-19.
Of the former PMs still on the taxpayer books, Malcolm Turnbull had the biggest spend, forking out $125,000 in the three-month period, followed closely by John Howard with $121,000.
The figures have gone unscrutinised until now after the parliamentary expenses management system was botched causing a backlog.
Beyond the headline figures, it was the whopping amounts spent on printing, family travel and employee travel that has raised eyebrows from political strategists.
Science Minister Ed Husic racked up $154,000 on “Office Facilities”- which includes the cost of rent, utilities and furniture while Teal independent Kylea Tink spent almost $159,000 in the same category.
Labor Senator Tim Ayres charged taxpayers almost $70,000 for international travel- including a $27,000 trip to France and Switzerland to attend a World Trade Organisation event.
Regeneration Media founder Dr Natalie McKenna blasted Victorian MP Jason Wood’s $161,000 printing bill and the Prime Minister’s half a million spent on employee travel.
“The printing costs, that looks really hypocritical. All organisations have the message, please don’t print, don’t waste paper, we try not to do any of that and those figures are just enormous. It’s almost unbelievable,” she said.
“This has been going on for many years but when these things come out, times like this when people are cutting back on Christmas lunch, Christmas presents that’s not going to go down well.”
Dr McKenna said the figures reflected poorly on Mr Albanese’s image of being the “everyman”.
“He’s not one of us at all, he doesn’t appear to be struggling and to spend that much money on travel, even the fact that his son Nathan is a member of the chairman’s club,” she said.
Other big spenders included Western Australian MPs Tania Lawrence, Fatima Payman and Zaneta Masarenhas who spent more than $15,000 each on family travel.
La Trobe University senior researcher Kevin Brianton said people expected politicians to spend money, but the government was failing at communicating the “value for money”.
“They know prices have risen but they need to know what they are getting, and I don’t think the government is explaining what they are getting. That’s the central problem.”
Special Minister of State Don Farrell said there would be a fast-tracked schedule of reporting until all expenses were up to date, criticising the former Morrison government for “severely mismanaging” the parliamentary expenditure management system.
“This should never have happened,” he said.
“This system has never functioned as intended, and complaints across the parliament have been consistent since its commencement in 2018.“
But Greens Senator David Shoebridge accused Labor of “excuses and delays” when asked to produce the data.
“The Greens have been pressing for full disclosure from day one, only to be met with excuses and delays from Labor,” he said.
“Now they release the data only in the shadow of Christmas hoping that the world is too distracted to notice.”
Originally published as $160k on printing, $500k on staff travel: Australia’s biggest spending politicians revealed
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