Joe Hockey pushed the timeline for a budget surplus into the future. Credit:Bloomberg Mr Hockey was forced to move from his old Mount Street digs in his North Sydney electorate because the office that had served as his electoral and ministerial office had been condemned. He moved 100 metres around the corner to a new office in Elizabeth Plaza, with a full suite of secure communications and security measures installed. In total, Finance spent $477,907.27 - more than on any other MP in 2015 - to fit out the new Hockey office. But after Malcolm Turnbull took over from Tony Abbott as prime minister, Mr Hockey was dumped from the ministry and resigned from Parliament to become Ambassador to the United States. Backbench MP Trent Zimmerman is now using the ministerial-sized office.

Mr Hockey was not the only MP to have an expensive refit of his or her office in the last calendar year. MPs have little say over where their offices are, and how much fit-outs cost, with Finance tightly controlling the process from start to finish. The expensive fit-outs prompted Ms Sudmalis and Mr Entsch to tell Fairfax Media that the rules needed to change. Mr Entsch said that Finance needed a "reality check" and that "despite my protests about the cost, I had to accept what Finance wanted". "There were a lot of things that are required that I didn't want, but I was told I had no choice.I knew it would be expensive, I reckon I saved money by getting rid of their project management team from Brisbane and doing it local," he said.

Mr Entsch and Ms Sudmalis suggested that Finance's rules should be changed so that at a minimum, local suppliers had to be used in regional areas rather than people flying in from Brisbane, Sydney, or other capital cities. Ms Sudmalis said she "got the price down a little by insisting on local tradies" and that she had initially fought the push to move her office. Ultimately, it had been cheaper to move offices than to do the renovation work Finance had required. At one point, Ms Sudmalis' move to a new office - which had been a Medicare shop front - almost fell through because the space was five square metres over the size allocated to a backbencher. Senator Canavan said the high cost in his expenses related to the fit-out of his Rockhampton office. "As is the case for all senators and members, this process is managed by the Department of Finance. I make no apologies for setting up the first Senate office in Central Queensland for more than 25 years."

A Finance spokesman said the Department "does not comment on the use of work expenses by individual senators and members". "The Department of Finance engages an external property and facilities provider. The Department of Finance through its property provider follows all relevant state and Commonwealth building and related regulations. The Department of Finance adheres to the Commonwealth Procurement Rules to ensure that value for money is achieved." Comment was sought from Mr Hockey. Follow James Massola on Facebook