SA Liberal MP Nicolle Flint blames electorate redraw for spending $324,696 of taxpayer money on office admin costs
SA Liberal MP Nicolle Flint says an electorate redraw is mainly to blame for her spending more than $300,000 of taxpayers’ money on office administrative costs. SEE WHAT OTHER MPs SPENT
SA Liberal MP Nicolle Flint spent $324,696 of taxpayers money on office administrative costs, double the average amount of her parliamentary colleagues for the same period.
Analysis of expense reports by 246 former and current MPs and Senators shows Bill Shorten had the largest individual share of the more than $140 million spent on travel, office and staff expenses in the 12 months to March 2019.
Ms Flint, the member for Boothby, said her large spend was in part due to an electorate redraw, which gave her 39,000 new voters to connect with.
Ms Flint’s office printed more than 451,000 items, of which about 75 per cent were after the redraw.
“Given the very large number of new voters and the overall very high number of voters, a combination of print and digital communications were necessary to engage with everyone in our community,” she said.
“Where possible, I draw on the support of generous volunteers to hand deliver flyers within my community to reduce costs.”
Mr Shorten’s expenses bill totalled about $3.2 million, or an average of $274,161 a month – well above Scott Morrison’s $216,455 spend a month in his first six months as Prime Minister.
A spokesman for Mr Shorten said “all expenditure has been incurred and reported within the rules”.
Malcolm Turnbull racked up a $1.65 million bill in his final six months in office, with Government ministers David Littleproud, Christopher Pyne, Steven Ciobo, Deputy Prime
Minister Michael McCormack, Marise Payne, Nigel Scullion and Greg Hunt rounding out the top 10 list of spenders.
Renegade North Queensland MP Bob Katter spent a whopping $104,578 on COMCAR travel over the 12 months, almost $30,000 more than Mr Morrison.
A spokeswoman for Mr Katter said the Kennedy MP prided himself on being “one of the most travelled politicians in Australia”, a necessity of covering one of the country’s largest electorates.
Politicians have charged taxpayers thousands of dollars to fix “dings” and other scrapes in their Commonwealth-funded cars – with some accident-prone MPs making multiple claims.
At least 15 politicians have spent almost $10,000 on “accident excess” for damage caused to their private-plated vehicles in the 12 months to March 2019, analysis revealed.
Melbourne Greens MP Adam Bandt charged taxpayers $454.55 for a “ding” to his vehicle in August 2018.
“The car was not involved in an accident but had minor scrapes on it and was repaired in accordance with department policy,” a spokesman for Mr Bandt said.
Politicians may use a private-plated or Commonwealth-leased vehicle for parliamentary, electorate or official business, and all damage “however minor” should be reported immediately under the guidelines.
Robertson MP Lucy Wicks listed two excess payments totalling $909 for an incident on August 14 last year, while current Defence Minister Linda Reynolds claimed three incidents at a cost of $1500 between May and September last year.
Liberal Senator David Bushby claimed two excess payments totalling $1000, and Blaxland MP Jason Clare lodged one $500 excess claim for car damage on April 20.
Brian Mitchell, Rebekha Sharkie, Arthur Sinodinos, Andrew Gee and Michelle Rowland also claimed $500. Mr Gee said his claim came after his vehicle hit a kangaroo.
Former Victorian senator Jacinta Collins charged taxpayers a total of $1409 for two excess payments related to incidents on the October 12 and December 17 last year.
Fellow former parliamentarians Cathy O’Toole, David Feeney and Ross Hart claimed $500 in excess for incidents in 2018 while Victorian senator James Paterson claimed $454.55 on December 30.
A spokeswoman for Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said the government “does not comment on individual parliamentarians’ work expenses or remuneration”.
“An accident excess payment is an expense incurred by a parliamentarian,” she said.
“The payment is incurred when an insurance claim is processed.
“The Department of Finance pays the excess and attributes the expense to the individual parliamentarian’s other car costs, which are published quarterly by the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority.
“Parliamentarians may request a Commonwealth-leased private plated vehicle (PPV), as part of their remuneration.”
Originally published as SA Liberal MP Nicolle Flint blames electorate redraw for spending $324,696 of taxpayer money on office admin costs