Independent Remuneration Tribunal overturns crackdown on international travel by MPs
Victoria’s independent pollie pay tribunal has overturned its crackdown on international travel spending after a backlash from backbench MPs.
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All Victorian MPs will be allowed to spend $10,000 a year on overseas junkets after the independent pollie pay tribunal backed down on new rules to limit their spending.
Just days before Christmas, the tribunal reversed its crackdown on international travel, which had sparked a backlash among backbench MPs.
It means all MPs can now use a $10,000 yearly allowance for overseas trips, which they say are beneficial for their Victorian electorates.
The Sunday Herald Sun revealed last month MPs were fighting back against the tribunal’s September ruling, an effort to clean up the system after years of questionable overseas trips, the cost of which didn’t have to be declared.
The tribunal had sought to limit the $10,000 allowance to parliamentary business conducted overseas, infuriating some MPs who feared taxpayers would no longer foot the bill for sister city visits and study tours.
Special Minister of State Gavin Jennings — as well as the clerks of both houses of parliament — intervened on their behalf to ask for the decision to be reversed, prompting the tribunal to review its guidelines.
Some MPs had already delayed or scrapped plans for overseas trips which would not have been covered by the international travel allowance.
On December 20, the tribunal released revised rules, saying it “was persuaded by submissions that stated the change will support MPs to undertake electorate business overseas which is within the regulatory framework”.
The $10,000 allowance is part of a monitoring, compliance and enforcement scheme that will mean parliament publishes quarterly reports on allowances claims.
The tribunal — set up by the Andrews Government after a series of expenses scandals — said these protections would “provide greater transparency about the travel that MPs may undertake as part of their electorate business”.
It also made a series of tweaks to the domestic travel allowance, which can now be claimed by MPs who have to stay in Melbourne when the break between parliamentary sittings is less than 10 hours.
In a statement it said: “The tribunal notes that the parliamentary duties of MPs occasionally require them to work late into the night and to commence early the next day.”
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“The tribunal notes that the parliamentary duties of MPs occasionally require them to work late into the night and to commence early the next day,” it said in a statement.
“This change will improve occupational health and safety for MPs.”
A broader review of the guidelines on expenses and allowances will be carried out by the tribunal this year.