TAXPAYERS have footed the bill for books celebrating Marxism, anarchy and sustainable cooking thanks to a Greens politician.

Senator Scott Ludlam slugged taxpayers more than $4500 in a year on books and publications including Pornography of Power: Why defence spending must be cut; How to Make Trouble and Influence People, a book celebrating disruptive protest; and The Bittersweet World of Chocolate, billed as a guide to socially responsible chocolate cooking.

Expenses documents from January to December last year show that Senator Ludlam also claimed $13.63 for a copy of teen fiction novel Tomorrow When the War Began, which follows the exploits of a group of Australian friends forced to fight an invading army.

The John Marsden book was turned into an award-winning Australia film last year.

In 2010, Greens leader Bob Brown also billed taxpayers $660 for 220 copies of his own party's Green Magazine.

Parliamentary rules allow senators to spend up to $4870 a year on publications "of their choice for purposes related to parliamentary, electorate or official business, but not commercial business".

The Herald Sun asked Senator Ludlam about the spending and whether taxpayers got value from the purchases, including the $44.50 claimed for Fifty Years of Recuperation of the Situationist International.

Situationist International is an obscure movement of revolutionary Marxists in 1950s France that sought to overthrow capitalism.

In response, Senator Ludlam said: "Some of the small handful of items mentioned were provided to local community bodies for them to use in their fundraising."

Some Greens MPs have come under fire for associations with socialist or Marxist groups, particularly before they were in Parliament.

Victorian Liberal senator Helen Kroger said some of the purchases were not surprising.

"The Greens profess to be the moral guardians and it would be refreshing if they practised what they preached," she said.

Senator Kroger said a book called In Defence of Lost Causes - claimed by Senator Ludlam for $36.32 last year - fitted with her expectations of the Greens.

- with Matt Johnston

murphypad@heraldsun.com.au

Originally published as Taxpayers foot Greens' book bill