NSW senator is among politicians whose claims for thousands of dollars in public money have been released under guidelines to improve transparency

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

David Leyonhjelm, the Liberal Democrat senator from New South Wales, charged taxpayers $9,392.59 to fly to Perth in December, booking the trip as “electorate business”.

The expense was revealed three months earlier than usual under new guidelines set up under Malcolm Turnbull in the wake of the Sussan Ley expenses scandal, in a bid to increase transparency and accountability of how MPs spend taxpayer dollars.

The reports reveal federal politicians are still charging taxpayers thousands of dollars to travel to party fundraising events, fly their families across the country and print copious amounts of material to promote themselves in their electorates.

I hate the Guardian. I don’t think there’s any reason why I need to tell you. David Leyonhjelm

Leyonhjelm charged taxpayers $8,280.82 for flights (with one or more family members) on 19 and 22 December from Sydney to Perth and back, $798 for two nights’ accommodation, and $313.75 for car costs, according to his expense report.

Leyonhjelm declined to say what electorate business he had in Western Australia.

“Why should I say anything?” Leyonhjelm said.

“I don’t really feel inclined to discuss this sort of subject, especially not with anyone from the Guardian. I hate the Guardian. I don’t think there’s any reason why I need to tell you.”

One month before Leyonhjelm’s trip to Perth, he had applied to register his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to run in Western Australia’s 2017 election.

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On 20 December, a day after flying to Perth, he visited 6PR radio and spoke at length about his party’s goals for the election, saying this was the first time the Liberal Democrats would be running for office in WA.

He said the Liberal Democrats stood for lower taxes, small government and individual responsibility.

Leyonhjelm told the Australian he had gone to Perth to prepare for a red tape inquiry, which he chairs.

A spokesman for the new Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority told Guardian Australia on Friday the term “electorate business” was not currently defined in legislation, so it was up to individual senators or members to determine if what they were doing was electorate business.

“If a Senator from NSW determined they needed to travel to WA for electorate purposes, then travel and travelling allowance costs could be met by the Commonwealth,” the spokesman said.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson was forced to repay flights worth $2,911.70 this year after she claimed travelling to Norfolk Island as electorate business. She was told that, as a Queensland senator, electorate business applied only to travel within mainland Australia.

Reports also show Tony Abbott charged taxpayers to attend a Liberal party fundraiser earlier this year in New South Wales, and a Tasmanian Liberals event.

He charged $372 for accommodation in Batemans Bay, NSW, on 17 February, where he headlined a Liberal party fundraising dinner that evening, booking the trip as “Former Prime Minister - Official Business”. Earlier that day he met business owners with local Liberal MP Ann Sudmalis.

He also charged taxpayers $618.12 for flights to Tasmania and back (Melbourne - Launceston - Sydney), where he attended a Liberal party event on 21 February. He charged $372 for one night’s accommodation, booking the trip as “Former Prime Minister - Official Business”. He also met some local business owners before the Liberal party event.

New Liberal MP Jason Falinski charged taxpayers $89,332.96 on “office costs” to print thousands of letters and send them to every household in his electorate to let them know who he was.

Turnbull flagged the overhaul of the expenses system in February after a summer of scandals in which former health minister Sussan Ley lost her job for charging taxpayers to fly to the Gold Coast where she purchased an $800,000 property.



The expense reports published by the IPEA cover the period January 1 to March 31, and they have replaced the old six-monthly reports. The reports will eventually be published monthly.