Victorian Minister Steve Herbert clocked up $43,000 in expenses in six months

BESIEGED minister Steve Herbert has billed taxpayers $43,000 in the six months to April for everything from remote-controlled headphones to a new milk frother for his coffee machine.

BESIEGED minister Steve Herbert has billed taxpayers for everything from a remote-controlled pair of headphones to a new milk frother for his coffee machine.

A copy of his expenses, obtained by the Herald Sun, show that in the six months to April, Mr Herbert’s office splurged almost $43,000.

That included $423.40 for Christmas cards, a pair of earphones worth $163.64 and $346.36 for coffee supplies.

He also claimed $235 for new fittings on his ministerial car which he used to have his dogs chauffeured in between his home in Parkdale and his country house in Trentham.

A 2015 expenses claim included $280.18 for a new milk frother.

Mr Herbert is paid $260,000 in his role as Corrections, Training and Skills and International Education Minister.

He also receives a $26,677 expense allowance and a $44,854 electorate allowance.

On top of that, the Northern Victoria MP can claim $36,982 for maintaining a second home in Melbourne.

And he can access up to $11,341 for using “commercial transport” to conduct electorate business, given the size of his region which includes Mildura, Shepparton and Bendigo.

He was criticised last year for spending $16,700 on chartered flights on two trips through regional Victoria.

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His most recent expenses, obtained under Freedom of Information laws, showed taxpayers footed a $7970.61 bill for Mr Herbert’s meetings with his Queensland and Western Australian counterparts to discuss vocational education and training reform.

Another $1651.82 was invoiced for airfares to attend a Council of Australian Government meeting in Hobart.

Mr Herbert’s limited use of Cabcharges included a $98 trip from Melbourne Airport to Parkdale in October last year.

Mr Herbert declined to comment on his spending last night.

During Question Time yesterday, he was grilled about his use of his taxpayer-funded driver.

Opposition MP Craig Ondarchie asked Mr Herbert if he personally signed ministerial logs for his driver when Patch and Ted were being chauffeured.

Mr Herbert dodged the question said: “I have said and I will continue to say this, that I made a mistake and I apologise.”

Opposition MP Mary Wooldrige then asked how many times Mr Herbert used his ministerial car to transport the dogs.

In response, he said: “In regard to the issue of my dogs being transported, I can make it clear again that I made a mistake, I apologise and I’ve asked the department to calculate the costs of repaying that amount.”

His evasiveness prompted criticism from Legislative Council president Bruce Atkinson, who asked him to produce written responses to the parliament.

“I think that perhaps we might well have had some more direct responses to those questions today rather than a line that has been adopted where the minister has shown contrition,” Mr Atkinson said.

In opposition in 2014, Mr Herbert said appropriate spending of public money was “central to our democracy to have faith in the integrity of public office”.

“It is central to the public’s faith that their taxpayer dollars are spent for the good of the public and not for the good of politicians, or their mates and friends,” he said at the time.

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