Liberal MP Tim Wilson leaves Victoria for 95 nights, charging taxpayers $37k

While Melburnians were stuck at home during a brutal lockdown last year, taxpayers picked up a $37,500 bill for a Victorian MP to stay in Canberra.

Liberal frontbencher Tim Wilson claimed $37,494 from taxpayers in travel allowance after leaving Melbourne’s brutal lockdown for 95 nights over 2021.

News.com.au can reveal the Victorian MP’s publicly funded travel — which lasted the majority of May to September — also includes hire car travel, spousal travel and a seven-day-a-week travel allowance.

While he claimed for 95 nights of travel allowance in Canberra and Queensland, parliament was only sitting for 32 days during the same period.

His Canberra sojourn included multiple periods of two-week quarantine as was required for Victorian MPs travelling to Canberra.

There was also a separate lockdown in the capital city, though restrictions were not as harsh as those in his hometown of Melbourne.

During the same period, he posted photographs of himself enjoying cocktails at his Canberra apartment while watching the AFL grand final on September 25.

“It became very tense and I wasn’t in a happy place around half time … but it started with peach Bellinis,’’ he wrote.

It was only in late October that he finally returned to Melbourne, celebrating at the Melbourne Cup with his husband and attending the local farmer’s markets with his pug, Louis, to buy oysters.

It became very tense and I wasn’t in a happy place around half time … but it started with peach Bellinis pic.twitter.com/13SDWBZfzH

— Tim Wilson MP (@TimWilsonMP) September 26, 2021

And we are resuming normal transmission #MelbourneCup2021 🏆🏆🏆 pic.twitter.com/FzcAV5BXVU

— Tim Wilson MP (@TimWilsonMP) November 2, 2021

Louis and I went to the Beaumaris Rotary market in Sandy. Louis then relieved himself on the oyster guy’s sign. So we bought oysters to say ‘sorry’, and now Louis thinks the oysters are for him … pic.twitter.com/pvmIFjCmLv

— Tim Wilson MP (@TimWilsonMP) November 12, 2021

According to Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority reports, Mr Wilson departed his electorate on the 23rd of May and flew to Canberra, where he remained almost continuously, at taxpayer expense, until at least September 26 2021.

It is not possible to confirm expenses claimed by Mr Wilson beyond September 26 2021 via IPEA reporting as the Q4 travel reports are yet to be published.

Morning Canberra: the win feels better in the morning #[e-mail]/OP0ZQogw1i

— Tim Wilson MP (@TimWilsonMP) September 25, 2021

The extraordinary expenditure is detailed in travel allowance declarations that reveal he spent seven days a week in Canberra for substantial periods during Melbourne’s longest lockdown.

For most of that time he was a backbencher, but was promoted by Prime Minister Scott Morrison to a junior ministry in October after spending nearly four months in the nation’s capital.

He was appointed to the role of Assistant Minister to the Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction on October 8, 2021.

Assistant minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction Tim Wilson. Picture: Aaron Francis

Between May 23 and September 26, Mr Wilson claimed his Canberra-related travel expenses courtesy of the taxpayer, including 29 nights in Canberra at $291 per night during the second quarter of 2021.

In the third quarter of the year he spent 66 nights in Canberra at $291 per night, a cost of $19,206.00.

The total cost of travel allowance alone was a stunning $27,645.00.

However, there were further costs including airfares and hire cars during the same period.

Mr Wilson spent $358.68 on airfares in the second quarter of the year and then $1590.43 in the third quarter.

During the same period he also booked hire car trips in Melbourne, likely to collect him at Melbourne airport on return from Canberra.

Under the rules he can also claim spousal travel, all contributing to a grand total of $37,494.02.

Screenshots show Liberal MP Tim Wilson's travel expenses from May-September 2021

Mr Wilson claimed more than $30,000 in a travel allowance worth at least $291 per night

A spokesman for Mr Wilson said his 95 nights in Canberra was a reflection of the demands that MPs quarantine in Canberra for a fortnight in preparation for Parliamentary sitting weeks, committee work, parliamentary sittings and a “response to the risk” that the border might close again.

“Across 2020 and 2021, Assistant Minister Wilson spent a month in quarantine due to border controls imposed by State and Territory Governments to attend Parliament and Chair Parliamentary Committees,’’ Mr Wilson’s spokesman said.

“After returning to Melbourne on Friday June 25, 2021 after the final June sitting week, Assistant Minister Wilson flew to Brisbane and then Rockhampton in July to participate in Exercise Talisman Sabre as part of the Australian Defence Force Parliamentary Program.”

Mr Wilson’s office said there was no holiday element to the trip to Queensland, it was entirely work-related.

On his decision to return to Canberra on July 22, the spokesman said Mr Wilson had needed to make a judgement call about whether to return to Victoria, due to the risk of border closures.

Politicians could seek exemptions to travel from Victoria to Canberra for parliamentary sittings, but if Mr Wilson had returned to his electorate, this would have then required another round of quarantine if he returned to Canberra.

“Upon completion of the Exercise, the Assistant Minister returned to Canberra because of the risk of border closures that could have prohibited him from attending Parliament,’’ a spokesman said.

Screenshots show Liberal MP Tim Wilson's travel expenses from May-September 2021

Screenshots show Liberal MP Tim Wilson's travel expenses from May-September 2021

“Upon the completion of the Parliamentary sitting fortnights in August (3 Aug to 12 Aug 23 Aug to 2 Sept) he had to Chair a series of Economics Committee hearings in Canberra and couldn’t concurrently facilitate quarantine obligations to enter Victoria and the ACT (two weeks in each direction).

Given these quarantine obligations and the fact that the Committee Secretariat is based in Canberra, the prudent course of action was to remain in Canberra between Parliamentary sitting fortnights so he could fulfil his responsibilities.”

During this six-week period in Canberra, Mr Wilson remained separated from his husband who remained in lockdown in Melbourne.

After returning to Canberra after his Queensland trip on July 22, Canberra also then entered a lockdown on August 12.

“Assistant Minister Wilson returned to Melbourne once quarantine rules were eased and it was confirmed that his swearing-in ceremony as Assistant Minister was to take place virtually,’’ a spokesman said.

“The Assistant Minister prefers to hire a car and drive himself in Canberra, not use the chauffeur-driven ComCar service.”

Committee work that Mr Wilson conducted during after parliament ended included:

– Private Hearing with an economist – Tuesday September 7

– Public Hearing with NAB Westpac – Thursday September 9

– Public Hearing with APRA, ASIC ACCC – Friday September 10

– Public Hearing on the Common Ownership Inquiry – Thursday September 16

– Public Hearing on the Common Ownership Inquiry – Monday September 20

– Public Hearing on the Common Ownership Inquiry – Wednesday September 22

– Public Hearing with CBA ANZ – Thursday September 23