Pollie travel scandal: $13.5 million set aside for entitlement review, expenses watchdog scores Budget boost

Travel entitlements for politicians will be reviewed while Parliament’s expenses watchdog gets a Budget boost in new measures quietly announced on Wednesday.

The Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority got $6 million extra funding for more staff in Wednesday’s mid-year Budget update, after a $74 million bungled IT system failed to streamline its operations.

The money comes after weeks of reporting on politicians’ use of travel entitlements, sparked originally by revelations that Communications Minister Anika Wells, a staffer and a senior bureaucrat took flights costing nearly $100,000 for a work trip to New York.

However, it’s understood the funding allocation was already in place before the scrutiny of expenses and comes because previously budgeted staff cuts at IPEA — intended to offset the cost of the new IT system — can’t be realised.

Similarly, a $7.5m review of politician’s resources, including their travel entitlements and security at electorate offices was set aside before this week.

Police and intelligence heads have repeatedly warned of increasing threats to politicians from all parties, and many MPs have had their electorate offices attacked or vandalised over the past two years.

The review will take specialist expertise on how to improve security arrangements at all offices.

IPEA’s expenses reporting system, commissioned in 2018, was suspended in late 2022 and referred to the Auditor-General after massive cost blow-outs and changes that left it virtually unworkable.

A subsequent scathing audit report – the second examining the project – found users frequently had to rely on “manual workarounds” to the system and that promised transparency was delayed.

The overhaul cost $74.3m – almost double its original budget – and was labelled by Special Minister of State Don Farrell last year as “one of the most embarrassing IT bungles in history”.