Prime Minister Anthony Albanese must think we came down with the last shower if he thinks we don’t understand what’s been going on with the misuse of parliamentarians’ travel entitlements.
Have a friend’s party you want go to? Just organise a few important official meetings at the time, and Bob’s your uncle. The taxpayer will pick up the tab for the trip.
Want to attend a sporting event, particularly if free tickets are on offer? Again, just organise a few important official meetings on the day before, and Bob’s your uncle again. Or, better still, claim that attending the sporting event is work.
Have a husband who works in Canberra? Claim family-reunion benefits, and regular commutes to the capital can be reimbursed by the taxpayer rather than the business. Uncle Bob is looking very generous.
Organise a family holiday in Western Australia and get the taxpayer to pay most of the costs, including business class airfares for partner and children. How good is that, even if you must pay a few dollars back?
Organise a lucrative fund-raising event at a particular locale to top up the party’s coffers. Schedule a brief cabinet meeting and have all the ministers attend on the taxpayers’ dime. Close the meeting, and the ministers can head off to the knees-up with all travel expenses picked up by the long-suffering taxpayer.
Now, all these examples fit within the official guidelines that are administered by bureaucrats whose jobs are basically to tick off on these claims. Let’s face it, it would hardly be career-enhancing to regularly query the requests of parliamentarians for airfares and travel allowances. My guess is that AI could be doing the job in many cases and this is a case where the computer rarely says ‘no’.
Albanese’s reaction to the exposure of these examples of the shameful waste of precious taxpayer money was entirely predictable. Downplay, excuse and repeat that spending was according to the guidelines. He even brought up the treacherous excuse of the presence of more women in parliament, including those with young children. (Because young women with young children don’t work in other settings and are not entitled to the same perks?)
https://www.spectator.com.au/2026/01/just-following-the-rules/
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