Nationals MP who has come under fire for extensive trips to Philippines is found to have wrongfully billed taxpayers for domestic travel

This article is more than 7 months old

This article is more than 7 months old

The Queensland Nationals MP George Christensen has paid back $2,100 in taxpayer funds after an audit of his travel expenses found he misused entitlements for a domestic flight and government car service charges before travelling overseas.

Christensen, who has come under fire for his extensive travel to the Philippines, referred his travel expenses to the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority (IPEA) following reports he had used entitlements to pay for connecting flights to Manila.

The IPEA conducted an audit of Christensen’s use of entitlements over a four-year period, looking at domestic travel “which preceded or followed non-official international travel”.

The audit, released on Monday, found Christensen claimed one domestic flight and one Comcar journey that he should not have, with the IPEA saying it “failed the dominant purpose test” for taxpayer-funded travel.

This resulted in a move by the IPEA to recover $327.28 from Christensen, which included a penalty for wrongly billing the expenses to taxpayers.

During the audit, Christensen also voluntarily offered to pay an additional amount of $1,843 for a number of Comcar trips and domestic airfares, meaning he has paid back a total of $2,100.

The IPEA looked at 14 travel itineraries, uncovering one in March 2018 that did not comply with the legislation governing MP entitlements, with the audit stating the “dominant purpose” of the trip was overseas travel.

The authority said that of 12 itineraries governed by previous expenses rules, 10 coincided with committee hearings or parliamentary sittings that were held in locations outside his electorate.

Christensen stated that after completing official business, he had to pass through a capital city to return to Mackay, even if he did not return to his home base.

The audit said: “In these instances, Mr Christensen could not recall if any official business was conducted in the capital cities of his embarkation.

“IPEA also noted instances where upon entry into Australia after non-official international travel, Mr Christensen also claimed domestic travel expenses from Brisbane to his home base. In these instances, Mr Christensen cited official business, however, he was only able to provide details and evidence in some instances.”

The IPEA also suggested that had the new “principles-based” framework existed for these 12 itineraries, then more travel may have been non compliant.

“All 12 itineraries in scope for this audit in the pre-1 January 2018 period were found to be compliant with the framework applicable at that time,” the IPEA says.

“IPEA notes that while Mr Christensen’s pattern of travel pre-1 January 2018 was compliant, different tests apply for post-1 January 2018. The current framework now requires that the dominant purpose was parliamentary business and that the travel represents value for money.”

When asked about the two itineraries that were subject to a new “dominant purpose” test that saw him claim connecting flights from Canberra to Sydney and Brisbane, Christensen said he “could not recall if parliamentary business was conducted”.

“He stated that he often conducts meetings with constituents, stakeholder groups, business groups or organisations and that these meetings are not always documented,” the audit found.

It said Christensen obtained a “personal benefit” by not returning to his home base of Mackay, from where he would have had to pay his own way to a point of international departure.

Christensen outed himself as the government MP who had come under federal police scrutiny for frequent travel to south-east Asia, but has suggested he was the target of a “smear campaign”.

The outspoken member for Dawson made 28 trips and spent almost 300 days in the Philippines between 2014 and 2018, where he met his now-wife, April Asuncion.