Entitlements back in spotlight as MPs delay expense debt repayments
PERKS for government MPs are back in the spotlight after reports Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young took more than 100 days to reimburse taxpayers for expenses she wasn’t entitled to claim.
POLITICIANS’ entitlements are back in the spotlight after reports Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young took more than 100 days to reimburse taxpayers for expenses she was not entitled to.
The Greens senator took 129 days to pay back $1234.90 for a hire car claim that didn’t meet the rules around entitlements,The Australian reports.
Government MPs also reportedly took more than 100 days to reimburse taxpayers for debts incurred over entitlement claims, including Liberal senator Ian Macdonald, Liberal MP Craig Kelly and Urban Infrastructure Minister Paul Fletcher.
Senator Hanson-Young has previously been in the spotlight for failing to pay back substantial debts on time.
In 2015, she was took a year to repay $15,186.34 of overspending on staff travel.
The following year it took her 355 days to repay $20,460.76, which was also incurred for staff travel overspending.
The senator did not respond to the publication’s request for comment but a spokesman for Greens leader Richard Di Natale toldThe Australian he had full confidence in Senator Hanson-Young continuing as finance spokeswoman.
Senator Macdonald reportedly took at least 233 days to repay a debt of $1374.22.
Mr Kelly took 151 days to repay $382 and Mr Fletcher failed to repay a debt of just $10.93 for at least 130 days.
Meanwhile, Fairfax Media reports Labor MP Michael Danby charged taxpayers for three trips to Queensland with his wife that he conducted no parliamentary business on.
The bill for those trips was reportedly almost $7500.
Mr Danby told the publication he had repaid the funds for those trips last year after auditing his own expenses.
New rules around entitlements and a new authority to monitor claims, the independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority, were established last year after an expense claims scandal centring on Liberal MP Sussan Ley’s travel to the Gold Coast.