Embattled Liberal senator Lucy Gichuhi was taken to court seven times for failing to pay $8,359 worth of council rates and $1,372 in water bills.

Court documents obtained exclusively by Daily Mail Australia show the Kenyan-born federal MP faced legal action from City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, Whyalla City Council and the South Australian Water Corporation in 2013, 2014 and 2017.

The Turnbull Government senator, who is on a $203,000 salary, was ordered by local court magistrates to pay $9,731 in seven unpaid bills, related to two investment properties in Adelaide and three in regional Whyalla.

One unpaid council bill went to court just three weeks before she was sworn in last year as a senator, and another bill was taken to a magistrate four months after she became a member of Parliament.

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Embattled Liberal senator Lucy Gichuhi was taken to court seven times for failing to pay $8,359 worth of council rates and $1,372 in water bills

The backbencher, who owns six houses in South Australia with her husband William, had failed to pay $8,359 worth council rates and $1,372 in water bills.

On her pecuniary interest register, Senator Gichuhi declares she is the owner of investment properties in the Adelaide suburbs of Dernancourt and Gilles Plains, along with another three homes in the steelworks city of Whyalla.

The senator and mother-of-three, who moved to Australia from Kenya in 1999, received five arrears from the Port of Adelaide Enfield Council and one from Whyalla City Council, in areas where she owns five investment properties.

One outstanding bill of $2,895 from the Adelaide council went to court on April 10, 2017, just three weeks before she was sworn in as a senator.

The most recent bill of $1,818 from Whyalla council went before a magistrate last September, four months after she became an MP.

Senator Gichuhi's chief-of-staff Mark Mudri told Daily Mail Australia on Wednesday afternoon she was still paying off those debts.

'These are personal financial matters. The Senator pays all of her debts, did not contest any of these matters and is honouring any associated payment plans,' he said in a statement.

Court documents obtained exclusively by Daily Mail Australia show the Kenyan-born federal MP faced legal action from City of Port Adelaide Enfield council and the SA Water Corporation

The Kenyan-born backbencher, who owns four houses in South Australia with her husband William, had failed to pay $8,359 worth council rates and $1,372 in water bills

The 55-year-old senator, who joined the Liberal Party in February, lists a house in Mawson Lakes, in Adelaide's north, as her main residential address.

She also owns a house in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, which houses her relatives, and two plots of land in the country of her birth, which were declared on her pecuniary interest register.

'Whilst I am not aware of any other interest in real estate, I have arranged for searches to be done in Kenya to ensure that is the case,' she said on her pecuniary interest register when she became a senator in May 2017.

In her maiden speech to the Senate last year, she admitted she struggled to resist the lure of mortgages.

'We were not able to resist the offers of multiple loans - a home loan, personal loans, car loans and credit cards,' she said.

The senator's eye for detail is already under scrutiny after she charged taxpayers $2,000 to fly family members to her '50th birthday plus GST' party.

Senator Gichuhi's Adelaide office, after two days, has still declined to explain why she claimed $7,675 in 'electorate business' to visit Sydney in August, September and November

Senator Gichuhi in October last year claimed $2,139 on the public purse for two return airfares from Darwin to Adelaide to celebrate a milestone that occurred in September 2012.

She has, however, agreed to repay taxpayers with a 25 per cent penalty added.

Australia's first black African federal MP is already under fire for telling Kenyan television her $200,000 salary 'in a whole year' was 'not a lot of money'.

On Wednesday, Sydney breakfast radio king Kyle Sandilands ridiculed this suggestion during a weekly segment with former Labor senator Sam Dastyari.

'On Kenyan radio where they're lucky to have three stones,' the millionaire breakfast show star said.

Senator Gichuhi's office, after two days, has still declined to explain to Daily Mail Australia why she claimed $7,675 in 'electorate business' to visit Sydney in August, September and November 2017 despite her being based in Adelaide.

Senator Lucy Gichuhi (pictured right) billed taxpayers to fly two family members to Adelaide for her '50th birthday plus GST'

The revelations came to light as she faced a Liberal pre-selection challenge for her coveted and winnable No. 3 spot on the party's Senate ticket at next year's federal election.

Taxpayer-funded entitlement claims, published by the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority, show Senator Gichuhi claimed $2,000 in travel allowance from taxpayers between August 17 and 22, 2017 to visit Sydney.

She claimed $400 a day from taxpayers during that period and another $405 in travel allowance for visiting Sydney for 'electorate business' on September 11.

In another set of controversial expenses claims, she billed taxpayers $2,769 to travel to Sydney on November 2.

This 'electorate business' involved addressing an event with Christian radio station, Hope 103.2, emceed by former state Liberal MP Stephen O’Doherty.

She joined the Liberal Party in February this year, six months after meeting former Liberal prime minister John Howard during her taxpayer-funded trip to Sydney

Three weeks later, on November 25, she travelled to Sydney on 'electorate business' to be a 'VIP Guest Speaker' at the African Professionals Australia Gala at Parramatta in the city's west.

The Christian conservative politician billed taxpayers $2,501 for travel allowance, car hire and travel for her husband.

Senator Guchihi, who received just 152 primary votes at the 2016 election on the Family First ticket, in May last year replaced Bob Day in parliament after his bankruptcy made him ineligible to be an MP.

The former independent senator joined the Liberal Party in February this year, six months after meeting former Liberal prime minister John Howard during her taxpayer-funded trip to Sydney in August.