But the Attorney-General, Nicola Roxon, has said the government will shield remaining MPs from such scrutiny by moving Parliament outside the reach of FOI. Her office said she was considering a bill to ensure the perks Parliament paid or administered - as well as the $230 million a year its departments managed - remained secret. ''It has been long-accepted practice that the parliamentary departments are exempt from FOI,'' her spokesman said in a statement. ''The government is considering its options to correct this anomaly.'' An FOI expert, Peter Timmins, said the planned legislation was a serious setback for accountability, noting that the government had failed to properly overhaul the way politicians were remunerated after a landmark inquiry in March last year recommended root-and-branch reform. ''They receive or administer significant amounts of public money that are not subject to the same standards of accountability and transparency that other government agencies are subject to,'' Mr Timmins said. ''Why don't we have a single system that is transparent so that we can see online how this money is being spent in real time?'' he said, citing the Scottish Parliament as an example of where such measures were in place.

Since freedom-of-information laws were introduced in Australia, the Federal Parliament has been considered off limits. The bureaucracy might have to account for its spending but the Parliament and its politicians do not, despite the recommendations of the Law Reform Commission that Parliament should be covered. But in 1999, when a new parliamentary services law was introduced, the three agencies that run the Parliament were accidentally exposed to the legislation. No one noticed until now. In late April, the serjeant-at-arms of the House of Representatives, Robyn McClelland, denied the Sunshine Coast Daily access to information about Peter Slipper's expenses as deputy speaker: ''Such details have not been released previously and we do not propose to make the details that you have requested available to you at this time.'' But the matter came to the attention of the Australian Information Commissioner, John McMillan, who made a surprise ruling that the Department of the House of Representatives, the Department of the Senate and the Department of Parliamentary Services had all been subject to the law since 1999. On May 1, the Herald tested the ruling. Last Thursday it received a table of all money paid to Mr Slipper first as deputy speaker and then, since November, as speaker.

In all, Mr Slipper has cost taxpayers $407,000 in the two roles. But on the day the Parliament was preparing to give the Herald this information, Ms Roxon announced the government deemed such disclosure an ''anomaly''. The Greens senator Lee Rhiannon said all MPs should be covered by FOI and their expenses should be readily available to the public. "Public money is what keeps the House of Representatives and the Senate functioning and the public have a right to know how that money is spent,'' she said. ''Parliament should not be beyond the reach of FOI.'' When Britain passed FOI laws 12 years ago, its Parliament and MPs were included and the media and others sought details of their expenses. The Parliament tried to stop the release but the courts said it was public money and public information.

The Parliament continued to resist until the entire file of MPs' expense claims and disbursements was leaked to the media in 2009 and caused a national scandal. Some MPs were claiming ''second-home'' allowances while renting those properties out, some were inflating council tax rates on these properties and pocketing the difference, and many were claiming inflated costs for renovations or repairs to their properties. The speaker and several ministers were sacked, the then prime minister, Gordon Brown, issued a public apology and several MPs were prosecuted and given jail sentences. In case the Australian government does try to move the Parliament out of the reach of FOI, on Friday the Herald asked the Parliament for the expenses of every member of the House of Representatives and the Senate. Do you know more?

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