Liberal Senator Lucy Gichuhi took tax-funded religious trips to Sydney
LIBERAL Senator Lucy Gichuhi billed taxpayers more than $12000 to speak at a number of Sydney functions completely unconnected to her electorate — which is in South Australia.
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LIBERAL Senator Lucy Gichuhi billed taxpayers more than $12000 to speak at a number of Sydney functions completely unconnected to her electorate — which is in South Australia.
Ms Gichuhi has already agreed to repay at least $2139 in taxpayer travel allowance she used to fly her family from Darwin to Adelaide last October for her birthday.
But The Daily Telegraph can reveal Ms Gichuhi, elected after Family First’s Bob Day was booted from the Senate, took taxpayer-funded trips to Sydney the following month to attend a religious event and an African diaspora function.
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She also charged the taxpayer for trips to Sydney seemingly unconnected with her electorate — more than 1000 kilometres away — with her family in April and August.
The latest revelation comes as a video, broadcast on Kenyan television in January this year, re-emerged yesterday showing Ms Gichuhi claiming her annual $203,000 salary was “not a lot of money”.
All four trips — for which Ms Gichuhi claimed $12190 in total — are listed as “electorate business” in documents filed with the independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority.
The Finance Department requires “electorate business” to be claimed only for “activities of the parliamentarian that support or serve their constituents”.
Ms Gichuhi’s first trip to Sydney using the travel allowance, in April, cost $2500 and included expenses for a family member.
A second trip in August — for which taxpayers footed a $4400 bill including airfares for family — was to speak at the National Australia Bank’s African Inclusion Program and meet former prime minister John Howard.
Ms Gichuhi spent $2769 to fly to Sydney from Adelaide on November 2, return the next day, to attend an event held by Christian radio station Hope 103.2, at which she spoke about “the lost art of disagreeing well”.
On November 25 she returned to Sydney to attend the African Professionals of Australia NSW event in Parramatta, where she was billed as a guest speaker.
She stayed overnight, charging taxpayers $271.
The public paid $1900 to fly her husband to the event, according to IPEA filings and a copy of her speech.
But a spokesman for Ms Gichuhi said the rules were clear that parliamentarians may “claim expenses for travel to contribute to forums and discussions in areas of policy they engage with regularly that affect their constituents”.
“(That) is what this travel was for,” he said.
The only other parliamentarian listed as a guest speaker at the African Professionals of Australia event was Labor MP Julie Owens, who represents the electorate of Parramatta.
Ms Gichuhi was an independent senator for South Australia until February, when she joined the Liberals.
She had originally been on the Family First ticket but refused to join the Australian Conservatives when the two parties merged in April last year.
The Telegraph reported yesterday Ms Gichuhi had used the travel allowance to fly two family members to her birthday.
Ms Gichuhi later said it was “an administrative error involving misunderstanding of travel rules”.
“I’ve raised an invoice from the department to pay the cost of $2139 in full,” she said on Twitter.
