Source : the age
By Shane Wright
Anthony Albanese will seek to cauterise the expenses saga engulfing his government within days by overhauling taxpayer-funded family travel after the nation’s Attorney-General Michelle Rowland revealed she would repay part of $22,000 trip to Perth.
Under growing pressure to align politicians’ expenses with community expectations, the prime minister has sought advice from the head of the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority (IPEA) on possible changes to the multi-million dollar scheme.
Federal cabinet is expected to discuss the issue when it holds its last formal meeting of the year on Monday with concerns that without a resolution it could overshadow the government’s last set piece of 2025, its mid-year budget update.
Attorney-General Michelle Rowland has said she will repay an unspecified portion of the $22,000 trip to Perth.Credit: James Brickwood
Albanese and his ministers have been dogged for almost a fortnight by questions over spending on parliamentarians’ expenses after revelations that Sport and Communications Minister Anika Wells flew her husband to successive premiere sporting events and her children to Thredbo for a ski trip.
Wells has self-referred her spending to IPEA, which had originally signed off on the expenses, for investigation.
The Australian Financial Review revealed last week that Rowland claimed almost $22,000 for flights and a travel allowance for a week-long trip to Perth during the NSW school holidays in mid-2023. That included $16,050 for three family flights.
Rowland late last week sought advice from IPEA on that trip. Within two days, IPEA returned that advice, finding that a portion of the family reunion travel was outside official guidelines.
On Sunday, Rowland revealed she will repay part of the $22,000.
A spokesman for the Attorney-General said that during the trip, Rowland had at least 10 official engagements.
He said the minister had accepted IPEA’s advice and started steps to repay that portion of the claim outside the agency’s travel guidelines. The amount Rowland will repay was not specified.
On days when there were no official duties, Rowland is understood not to have claimed any travel allowances and paid her own expenses and accommodation.
On Sunday, Treasurer Jim Chalmers conceded there was community concern about the entire entitlements debate.
“I understand that there’s a lot of community concern about this, I think we all understand that, we all get that,” he told Sky News.
“These rules are all about trying to ensure that as we go about being the best ministers that we can, that we can also be, good parents where we can.
“I understand that where the rules reflect that, there’s not a lot of support for that, out in the community, but that’s what the rules are about, and we do our best to comply with those rules.”
Chalmers said he understood the IPEA advice sought by the prime minister would be received shortly.
He rejected suggestions that Rowland should resign.
“No, I don’t believe so. I think Michelle’s done the right thing in asking the IPEA to take another look.”
But Coalition finance spokesman James Paterson said much more had to be revealed by Rowland about the trip to Perth, including how much she was repaying and which rules she had broken.
Paterson said the matter should be referred to the head of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet to determine if she was in breach of the ministerial code of conduct.
He also said the speed at which IPEA appeared to have found a problem with Rowland’s travel.
“It’s very surprising that she only disclosed on Friday at 1pm that she’d sought IPEA’s advice, but they apparently were able to provide that advice on the same day that she needed to pay that money back,” he said.
The scope of the entitlements’ saga grows with the Coalition targeting Local Government and Regional Development Minister Kristy McBain over a trip she and her husband took to Sydney, and the New Year’s Test between Australia and India in early 2023.
McBain, who lives on the NSW South Coast, and her husband took a flight from Merimbula to Sydney on January 4, returning the following day. She claimed in total $2250 in flights and Comcar travel under both family reunion and official duties rules.
The Coalition is demanding McBain refer herself to IPEA to examine the trip for which McBain declared two tickets from Cricket Australia.
Earlier this year, IPEA reviewed all of McBain’s family travel between mid-2021 and mid-2023.
In the case of the trip to Sydney in 2023, McBain met with representatives from Venues NSW, Cricket NSW and the chairs of the SCG and Cricket Australia with much of the discussion about regional stadia and facilities in regional areas. McBain went to the cricket following the lunchtime discussions.
IPEA accepted the dominant reason for the trip was parliamentary business.
A spokeswoman for McBain declined to comment.
Health Minister Mark Butler is also under fire from the Coalition after revelations by news.com.au that he billed taxpayers $5500 in flights and accommodation for the Australian Open men’s final and the New Years’ Test in 2024 under family travel.
At the time, he was the cabinet minister responsible for sport.
The Townsville Bulletin on Sunday revealed LNP member for Herbert, Phillip Thompson, had repaid money for family trips between Townsville and Cairns.
It revealed IPEA records showed Thompson claiming a trip between the two far North Queensland trips between August 24 and September 2 last year at a cost of $4205. But Thompson was in his Townsville home with his family during the purported trip.
