Tony Abbott has put money where his mouth is, spending more than any other parliamentarian on phone bills in the first half of 2011.

The Opposition Leader often tells Prime Minister Julia Gillard to "pick up the phone" and call the Nauru government and Qantas boss Alan Joyce, for example.

But he's clearly been making plenty of calls himself, racking up close to $28,000 in telecommunications costs between January 1 and June 30 - about $10,000 more than the second-ranked Barry Haase, a West Australian Liberal.

Overall, MPs and senators spent more than $1.5 million on calls during the six-month period scrutinised in a report on MPs' entitlements tabled in the Lower House on Thursday.

Independent Bob Katter, new Speaker Peter Slipper, embattled Labor MP Craig Thomson and Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd also featured in the top 10 of telephone call costs.

Meanwhile, Mr Rudd racked up $690,601 in overseas travel costs in same period - 10 times more than his predecessor Stephen Smith spent in the first half of 2010.

The Prime Minister's overseas travel for the same period cost a more modest $461,595.

Mr Rudd's six-month total dwarfs the $69,784 Mr Smith spent in the first half of 2010.

Although he only became foreign minister in September last year, Mr Rudd's bill for the previous six-month period was $426,306, bringing his 12-month total to about $1,116,900.

Who's spending what Overseas travel costs: January-June 2011 1. Kevin Rudd - $690,601 2. Julia Gillard - $461,595 3. Craig Emerson - $202,782 4. Harry Jenkins - $153,182 5. Warren Snowdon - $147, 816 Domestic travel costs: January-June 2011 1. Barry Haase - $61,740 2. Julie Bishop - $60,849 3. Mark Butler - $56,561 4. Jan McLucas - $50,837 5. Mathias Cormann - $50,772

That is almost three times the total of $427,450 Mr Smith spent in the 12-month period to June 2010.

Other top travellers for the period included Trade Minister Craig Emerson ($202,782), former Labor speaker Harry Jenkins ($153,182) and Treasurer Wayne Swan ($135,439).

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott ranked 102nd overall, spending just $1,548 on overseas travel in the period.

Winery visits

In total, parliamentarians incurred $4.22 million in overseas travel during the six months.

Parliamentarians' domestic commercial flights cost the public purse $4.59 million, while close to $1 million was spent on charter transport.

The report also shows a federal Liberal MP took a 15-day taxpayer-funded trip to South America and New Zealand to study wine.

Adelaide-based MP Patrick Secker left Australia on January 1 for 10 days of winery visits and meetings with winemakers in Argentina and Chile.

On his way home, Mr Secker had a two-day visit to Auckland's Oyster Bay winery.

Mr Secker told Special Minister of State Gary Gray, who tabled the report, that the trip was aimed at "enhancing" his knowledge of the wines each country produces and their procedures for importing wine from Australia.

"I will be imparting this new found knowledge to wine growers in the Barker electorate, with the view of hopefully assisting them by increasing the export of South Australian wine to the regions I visited," he said.

Study trips

Mr Secker used his Overseas Study Travel Entitlement - available to all parliamentarians with more than three years' service - for the trip which cost $7,951.

MPs and senators took a total of 50 study trips in the six months between January 1 and June 30 this year. Thirty-one of these trips were taken by opposition members.

Recently retired former Howard government minister Helen Coonan used her entitlement to take an 18-day trip to Singapore, the UK, France and Germany to "gain insights into the dynamics of the global stock exchange industry".

Ms Coonan held just five meetings in that time, according to her report of the trip.

Liberal Senator Michael Ronaldson spent more than $25,000 for four weeks in the UK, Italy and Turkey, saying the primary purpose of the trip was to attend Anzac Day commemorations at Gallipoli.

He also had 14 meetings in London, Rome and Istanbul relating to his veterans' affairs portfolio.

Liberal Senator Cory Bernardi had 16 meetings relating mainly to migration and multiculturalism during 22 days in the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Italy in April.

AAP