Politicians should be forced to justify how their travel relates to their jobs under a new parliamentary entitlements system that elevates the principle of value for money, according to a report.

The special minister of state, Mathias Cormann, said the government supported “in principle” all 36 recommendations in the wide-reaching report released on Wednesday.

The report acknowledges that the existing entitlements system is piecemeal, incomplete, confusing and lacks transparency, leading to travel that has been “inside entitlement but outside community expectations”.

“An opaque, complex expenses system will inevitably lead to errors and invite abuse,” the report says. “Real or perceived breaches of this trust undermine confidence in our parliamentarians.”

Obliging parliamentarians to publicly report their expenses and open them out for “reasonable” auditing would help restore trust, it says.

“As part of a principles-based system parliamentarians should consider whether their work expenditure represents an efficient, effective, and ethical use of public resources. A parliamentarian should not seek to disguise as parliamentary business an activity whose purpose is personal or commercial.”

The issue of parliamentary entitlements made headlines last year when it emerged that then Speaker of the House of Representatives, Bronwyn Bishop, had used more than $5,000 of taxpayer money to charter a helicopter to attend a Liberal party fundraiser.

In response to that, the report recommends scrapping that provision. “In the absence of compelling reasons, helicopters cannot be chartered to cover short distances,” it said.

Among the report’s recommendations are:

Scrapping the concept of “entitlement” and replacing it with “work expenses”.

Establishing a purpose-based eligibility requirement so that parliamentary business is the only reason to claim expenses.

Reviewing the work expenses framework once during each parliamentary term.

Making sure that value for money is a central concept for all travel decisions.

Halving the time parliamentarians must lodge their travel expenses from 60 days to 30.

Scrapping the $10-a-night allowances for spouses who travel with their office-holder or ministerial partners.

Ensuring that all ComCar travel is undertaken for business purposes.

Re-examining the use of ComCars in Canberra during parliamentary sitting periods.

Keeping the entitlement of three return flights a year for dependent children to visit their parliamentarian parents, but ensuring the flights are in economy class.

Extending travel allowances for the partners or other designated persons accompanying parliamentarians who have a new baby.

Reducing travel provisions for former parliamentarians.

Applying a 25% loading for parliamentarians who have to adjust their expenses claims.

Naming and shaming politicians who do the wrong thing.

The report also calls for the urgent implementation of an online lodgement system.

The former prime minister Tony Abbott initiated the review in August after Bishop resigned as Speaker.

“It has become apparent over the last few weeks, particularly in recent days, that the system does need fundamental reform,” Abbott said. “That’s exactly what there will be under this government because the public deserves it.”

At the time the independent senator Nick Xenophon called for a number of changes including the real-time online reporting of expenses and greater independent oversight of the system.

Greens senator Lee Rhiannon labelled the recommendations “a lukewarm collection of half-measures”.

“It is not good enough to take baby steps towards transparency when we are talking about how public money is spent. Greater transparency and tighter regulations for reporting of entitlements are critical to raising standards in public life,” she said.

“The Greens will continue to work for rules that will require MPs to publicly disclose their expenses on a searchable public website in close to real time, similar to what the Scottish parliament has.”



