Category Archives: Australian politicians’ expenses

Albanese government accused of ‘secrecy by stealth’ after key details removed from report on MPs’ expenses

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Expense report, which previously included itemised spending, now has almost zero detail on how money actually spent in each category

Anthony Albanese’s government has been accused of a lack of transparency after the much-delayed release of a report on politicians’ expenses was changed to strip out key details on what federal MPs billed to taxpayers on junk mail and online advertising.

Expense reports, which were previously presented with itemised spending on newspaper subscriptions, books and printing have been summarised to now only give an aggregated total, with almost zero detail on how money is actually spent in each category.

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Greens accuse Richard Marles of not telling the truth in parliament over disclosure of VIP flights

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David Shoebridge says statement calls into question deputy PM’s claim that keeping flight details secret complies with the rules, but Marles insists all his travel accords with ‘the relevant guidelines and security procedures’

The deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, has been accused of not telling the truth in an answer to parliament by claiming he complied with guidelines on the use of taxpayer-funded VIP flights, despite failing to give details of $3.6m of flights he authorised.

Guidelines in place since 2013 oblige the government to make details of flights public every six months. But the former Coalition government ended that practice, citing a pending security review by the federal police, finance department and others.

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Nationals leader repays Gold Coast travel expense claim he made after he ‘sought the wrong advice’

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David Littleproud left parliament early in February to travel to the Gold Coast, three days after he and his spouse settled on a new apartment there

The Nationals leader, David Littleproud, has repaid travel expenses he claimed after leaving parliament early to travel to the Gold Coast in February.

In a statement Littleproud said he had “mistakenly sought the wrong advice” and “incorrectly” re-entered Queensland in between sitting weeks via the Gold Coast.

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Public left in the dark on federal MPs’ use of taxpayer-funded VIP jets

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Key reporting systems designed to stop rorting have been offline for an extended period

The loss of two key transparency systems has left the public blind to politicians’ use of taxpayer-funded travel and expenses, including trips taken in costly VIP government jets.

Reporting systems run by the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority and the Department of Defence are both inactive, and are expected to remain offline for extended periods.

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Andrew Laming says watchdog has done ‘nothing’ since he refused to repay expenses it found he wrongly claimed

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Outgoing LNP politician rejects the finding, saying he will appeal and that he has not been contacted by anyone chasing him for payment

Outgoing Liberal National party politician Andrew Laming says the expenses watchdog has done “nothing” since he publicly refused to pay back more than $8,000 in travel expenses he was found by it to have wrongly claimed.

The Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority (Ipea) audited a single month of Laming’s travel in 2020 after a Guardian Australia series on MPs’ expense claims.

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Craig Kelly billed taxpayers to fly to Melbourne anti-lockdown rallies

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UAP leader defends the travel expenses, saying his activities at the protests were parliamentary business

Craig Kelly is being investigated for billing taxpayers to fly to anti-vaccine mandate, anti-lockdown rallies in Melbourne, internal records show.

Kelly, the leader of the United Australia party, charged taxpayers for his flights to and from Melbourne for two rallies in November and December last year, which were organised chiefly as protests against Victoria’s pandemic powers and the Victorian premier, Dan Andrews.

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Australia news live: China row simmers; NSW awaits Covid case numbers

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MP Andrew Hastie has criticised the release of details included in the war crimes report for allowing China to ‘malign our troops’; PM faces questions over Murdoch Christmas party flight; NSW awaits update on new Covid cluster. Follow all today’s news

Good morning, Matilda Boseley here. It’s nearly the end of the week and what better way to reach the finish line than to stick around on the Guardian live blog and get all your much-needed news updates, Covid-19 or otherwise.

First up, Liberal MP Andrew Hastie has criticised the Brereton Report which he says was filled with “unproven rumours” of Australian soldiers murdering Afghan children, saying the report has given China an opening to malign Australian troops.

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