AceNewsDesk – The prime minister, opposition leader and frontbencher Tony Burke were the three biggest spenders in the months after Anthony Albanese won the 2022 federal election, new data has revealed.

Ace Press News From Cutting Room Floor: Published: Dec.22: 2023: ABC Politics News: TELEGRAM Ace Daily News Link https://t.me/+PuI36tlDsM7GpOJe

The government has published expense data for politicians for the first full quarter of the Albanese government, after the reporting process was mired in technical issues and delayed.

The largest bill of any individual Member of Parliament was unsurprisingly the prime minster’s sitting at $684,665 in total, with the second biggest spender being House Leader Tony Burke at $398,410, followed by Opposition Leader Peter Dutton at $363,003.

The prime minister also spent the most on international travel, claiming $82,729 in international flight expenses, as well as $500,000 in employee travel costs.

Defence Minister Richard Marles, backbench MP Darren Chester and Assistant Trade Minister Tim Ayres were the next highest flyers, all with international flight expenses over $25,000, with Mr Burke spending the fifth most at $23,420.

Alongside the expense data, Defence also published corrected records for “special purpose” RAAF flight expenses, which it admitted had been wrongly recorded after revelations Mr Marles had seemingly charged taxpayers $3 million for himself and associates to fly on RAAF planes since winning government.

The corrected data shows Mr Marles in fact spent closer to $2.4 million on RAAF flights for himself and officials since becoming a minister until June of this year, still significantly more than other recent defence ministers, whose travel was hindered in part by COVID restrictions.

The government briefly paused reporting on special purpose flights due to security concerns, but later agreed to continue publishing the expenses with less detail on specific flights.

The data shows the travel toll politics takes on rural MPs and politicians out west, who typically rank higher in charges for overnight stays and domestic travel.

First-term MP Colin Boyce claimed more travel allowance than any other MP at $29,623 in his first months in parliament, which is paid for every night stayed in accommodation away from home — the Nationals MP represents the federal electorate of Flynn, which covers an area twice the size of Tasmania

Nationals leader David Littleproud, Shadow Climate Change and Energy Minister Ted O’Brien and Shadow Health Minister Anne Ruston also claimed more than $15,000 in travel allowance.

The largest family travel expenses were all claimed by MPs in West Australia, namely Tania Lawrence, Fatima Payman and Zaneta Mascarenhas, all first-time MPs.

Queenslander Bob Katter spent the most of any independent MP, including more than $40,000 on scheduled and unscheduled travel, while Kylea Tink spend the most among the teal MPs at $185,264, nearly all on office facility expenses.

Meanwhile the largest spend by a government backbencher was Peter Khalil, whose expenses amounted to $202,470, more than several ministers — half of that cost was in office administration which includes stationery, printing costs, courier services and subscription services.

Fourteen MPs claimed more than $100,000 on office facilities, which counts furniture, security, bills, repairs and similar costs

Former prime ministers Tony Abbott and John Howard also spent more than $100,000 on office facilities.

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