Travel expenses: MP claims for a trip to Cairns – and buys property there
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Version 0 of 1. A Liberal MP and member of the parliamentary committee for MPs’ privileges and interests has billed taxpayers for a trip to Cairns and dozens of books, all not evidently related to his job as a parliamentarian. A reader tip-off to the Sydney Morning Herald has revealed that Don Randall, the West Australian member for Canning, made multiple dubious expense claims. In November 2012 Randall flew to Cairns with a family member, claiming $5,259 for “electorate business”. A week later an addition to his pecuniary interests ledger showed that Randall and his wife had taken ownership of a Cairns investment property. When questioned by Fairfax, and given a day to respond, the MP’s office declined to comment. On Wednesday afternoon Randall told Guardian Australia in a statement: “The claims relating to travel were appropriately acquitted with the Department of Finance.” Further expense claims include an October 2012 study tour to Sri Lanka for Randall and his wife, at a cost of $28,408 including a $2,135 phone bill, a trip to Melbourne and back to Perth, and thousands of dollars spent on books. The books, some of which were bought in multiple copies, included children’s cookbooks, travel books, the Guinness World Records, a guide to Broadway musicals and six copies of former prime minister John Howard’s Lazarus Rising. “In relation to the purchase of books, these were under entitlement and were purchased as gifts for community groups and schools in my electorate,” Randall said. Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning. |