Ten years of opposition leaders’ travel data dumped in South Australian parliament
The controversial travel allowance cost a number of ministers their jobs. Now a decade’s worth of country travel data for opposition leaders has been unveiled in state parliament – see their claims.
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Opposition leaders in South Australia spent about $60,000 on interstate and regional travel over 10 years, new documents tabled in state parliament have revealed.
The spending of former Liberal leader Isobel Redmond, Premier Steven Marshall and current Labor leader Peter Malinauskas has been outlined in a data dump, previously promised during the peak of the travel rorts scandal.
Former Independent Commissioner Against Corruption Bruce Lander in July confirmed he will investigate whether any MPs who have claimed the controversial country member’s allowance over the past 10 years have been rorting the system.
Opposition leaders are entitled to a “per diem” allowance, sometimes referred to a working away from home payment, when they travel to regional South Australia or interstate.
The payment, for commercial accommodation and meals, currently amounts to $301 a day for travel outside metropolitan Adelaide but within SA.
Interstate, the payment is worth $449 a day for everywhere but Sydney, where the payment is worth $507 a day.
Data released on Tuesday shows that between them, the three leaders spent $60,765 on interstate and regional travel, including almost $10,000 in per diem payments.
Mr Marshall made 33 trips, costing $44,585, between February 2013 and September 2017 to a raft of locations from the Barossa Valley to Sydney.
The State Opposition is expected to call on Mr Marshall, who made no per diem claims between 2016 and 2018, to release credit cards statements from between 2013 and 2016 to ensure there has been no double-dipping.
Mr Malinauskas has spent about $8884 on interstate and regional travel since becoming leader, the documents show.
Credit card statements of opposition leaders are now published online.
Former Speaker Vincent Tarzia vowed to release 10 years’ worth of data related to opposition leaders at the peak of the travel rorts scandal.
New Speaker Josh Teague followed through on the commitment as he vowed, in time, to have monthly reports of the travel details published online.
Liberal MPs Stephen Patterson, David Basham and Vincent Tarzia were sworn in to Mr Marshall’s ministry in late July after the pollies perks scandals forced a Cabinet reshuffle.
It came after several state MPs paid back almost $80,000 in travel claims – originally footed by the taxpayer.