Australia’s senior politicians can claim ‘unlimited’ travel expenses for their spouse, watchdog rules say

Expenses rules for federal politicians are so broad that ministers and senior politicians have “unlimited” travel entitlements for their spouse, according to guidelines governing spending.Despite days of controversy around spending by the communications minister, Anika Wells, and growing calls for reform of the rules, Anthony Albanese did not indicate there would be changes to entitlements.“The Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority (IPEA) was set up by the former government to examine things independently at arm’s length,” he said on Wednesday. “I don’t want to be the arbiter of what my colleagues [do] across the parliament, across political parties.”As the government defended their use of the entitlements, on Wednesday evening, Albanese convened a ministry meeting in Sydney ahead of a Federal Labor Business Forum (FLBF) fundraiser.Labor raises millions of dollars through fundraisers organised by the FLBF, which organises exclusive dinners and networking events at thousands of dollars per head. By convening a ministry meeting, interstate ministers attending the fundraiser would be able to claim their flights as an expense.Politicians embroiled in the growing expenses scandal – including Wells, Albanese, Don Farrell and others – have defended their use of the family travel rules to bring their spouses and children to events like the Australian Open and major NRL and AFL matches, saying it was within the rules.The IPEA is the parliament’s expenses oversight body. It is governed by the IPEA Act and associated regulations.Guardian Australia can reveal an explanatory document about the regulations says spousal travel for senior office holders is “relevantly unlimited in respect of total expenses claimable each year”.Backbenchers are allowed the equivalent of nine business-class trips between their home city and Canberra, as well as three economy-equivalent trips to other locations in Australia.But senior office holders – including government ministers, the Senate president, the House of Representatives speaker, the opposition leader and deputy opposition leader – are allowed to bring their spouses almost anywhere, with no cap on costs.Spouses can travel with or even without a minister if they have been invited to an “engagement” in their “capacity as the spouse of a senior office holder”.Guardian Australia has asked legal and transparency experts, as well as former senior politicians, about those rules.Transparency International Australia’s chief executive, Clancy Moore, said while the generous entitlements are within the rules, public confidence in the way politicians spend depends on both compliance and perception.“Taxpayer-funded business class flights for a minister’s spouse to attend major sporting events, a helicopter trip to a Liberal party fundraiser, or the current deputy prime minister’s extensive use of RAAF flights to Avalon airport all highlight the gap between what’s allowed and community expectations,” he said.“There’s a broader pattern of behaviour by some federal MPs where weak oversight of lobbying, secret cash-for-access meetings with donors and ministers sneaking off to industry lobbying jobs upon leaving politics weakens people’s trust in our democracy.”Albanese said the rules around politicians’ spending and allowances were made “at arm’s length” from the government by the IPEA.“I tell you what’s not a good thing is for politicians to rule and manage themselves,” Albanese told the ABC.But the parliament does set rules for the IPEA Act, which could be amended.Wells, who is the minister for communications and sport, said on Tuesday she has referred her travel spending to the parliament’s expenses watchdog “for the avoidance of doubt” and maintains she had remained within the rules.It came after revelations Wells used her family travel entitlement – available to all politicians – to fly family members to a Thredbo ski resort, the Melbourne Formula One Grand Prix, cricket matches and AFL grand finals.Scrutiny followed after reporting on her travel to France for sporting events, to Adelaide for meetings coinciding with a friend’s birthday and nearly $100,000 in air fares for the minister and staff to fly to New York.Albanese again defended Wells’ spending, telling ABC radio: “The sports minister going to a sporting event should not be terribly surprising.”“But Anika Wells has done the right thing, she has referred all of her expenses to the independent authority. They’ll have a look at that - that’s appropriate,” he said.Wells conceded that the amount of spending on entitlements “prompt a gut reaction in people”, but maintained she believed she had not breached guidelines.“These rules were made under the previous government. I have abided by the rules the whole time I’ve been a parliamentarian,” she said.The shadow minister Melissa McIntosh – who herself came under fire after revelations she claimed $429.64 in 2021 to take family to the Bathurst 1000 car race – said family travel entitlements should be reformed.“I think possibly [rules around entitlements] could be dropped. I think their public expectations of politicians have changed over the years and we do all want to be with our families, me included. I have three children. But if we don’t drop this, then we need to really restrict it,” she told Channel Nine.McIntosh claimed Wells’ use of the entitlements were “not just [a] family reunion, this is rorting the system”.The independent MP Monique Ryan said it was important to support politicians forced to leave their young families for work, but that rules needed to meet public expectations.“In a cost-of-living crisis, politicians have to be careful to ensure that their arrangements are sensitive to the need to spend public funds responsibly. Given the repeated concerns around these issues, it makes sense for the government to review the travel allowance regulations,” she said.