Travel allowance rules should change for MPs who own Canberra property: former senator

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More than one in four parliamentarians own property in the ACT, and a former senator says it doesn’t pass the pub test for them to claim taxpayer funds to stay in places they or their colleagues own.

More than one in four federal parliamentarians own a property in the nation’s capital, prompting a former senator to criticise the travel entitlements system, which allows MPs to claim taxpayer funds to stay in houses or flats they or their colleagues own.

Nearly 24 per cent of MPs and about a third of senators own property in the ACT, analysis of their register of interests showed, excluding representatives from the territory. Patrick said while it was reasonable for politicians travelling great distances to have a secondary residence in Canberra, or an investment property, using taxpayer money to help pay down their mortgages did not pass the pub test.

“This is, in effect, property nepotism. And it would be appropriate for the government to place restrictions on it.”Some politicians, such as Sydney Labor backbencher Michael Freelander, who has an ACT property under his spouse’s name, claim a daily travel allowance of $310 a day when they are in Canberra.

 

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