No reason was given for Mr Randall's decision. Fairfax Media recently revealed that Mr Randall had spent more than $10,000 on questionable travel and billed taxpayers for about $2500 on books that bore no obvious relation to his job. Mr Randall defended the books claims and a trip to Melbourne with his wife to watch an AFL semi-final, but repaid his most controversial claim. After intense media attention, Mr Randall refunded taxpayers more than $5000 for business-class flights he took to Cairns with his wife that coincided with his taking possession of an investment property. On Wednesday Mr Randall was reinstated on the committee that oversees the code of conduct for parliamentarians, before turning down the responsibility.

Mr Randall was set to be one of a group of politicians considering “complaints about registering or declaring interests”. After hearing of the appointment, Fairfax Media asked Mr Randall on Wednesday whether he thought it appropriate that he would be overseeing privileges and members' interests given his involvement in the high-profile expenses scandal. “That's for others to judge,” Mr Randall said, adding that he had not yet been told that he was on the committee. Education Minister Christoper Pyne defended his colleague on Wednesday saying: ''Well Don Randall is a valued colleague, he's a very good friend and I'm sure he'll do a very good job.'' But Greens leader Christine Milne said: ''The appointment makes it clear that the Abbott government is taking a cavalier attitude towards entitlements and not taking seriously the need for greater transparency and rigorous oversight.''

Mr Randall has previously said that he can "sleep well at night" about his taxpayer-funded trip to Cairns, adding that while he visited his investment property, "it wasn't as if I got the keys or anything". At the height of the expenses scandal, Mr Randall told The West Australian newspaper that he was entitled to the trip despite having repaid the money. Mr Randall said taking a "look" at his investment property was secondary to his real business in Cairns, which was to meet with the then opposition whip Warren Entsch "for a couple of hours". At the time, Mr Randall blamed the media for the attention on his expenses. "It's not being driven by the Labor Party. And I've had calls from Labor Party people to say that.

"It's an issue that's been trawled over largely by the Fairfax Media and then become an issue for the rest of you." Loading Asked then whether he had acted in the spirit of the law, Mr Randall said: "My interpretation of the spirit of the law will be completely different from somebody who is my opponent or my critic."