Senator calls for more transparency on travel spending by retiring politicians
Australilan independent Senator Nick Xenophon said on Friday that the federal government should set up a website where taxpayers are able to access updated information on government officials' travel expenditures.
Following reports of outgoing politicians planning trips to Mongolia and Bhutan, allegedly using taxpayers' money, Senator Xenophon said that the government travel guidelines must be overhauled to promote better transparency.
The senator told AAP that while acknowledged that some travels are undisclosed for national security reasons, a public website would not hurt that much and should afford voters the ability to scrutinise specks of public spending.
A group of retiring politicians is set to travel to Mongolia today and according to a report by AAP, they were Bob Debus, Annette Hurley, Kay Hull and former speaker David Hawker. The same report added that the group were scheduled to return by July 22.
Earlier, another MP visited Mongolia in 2009 prior to retirement and in a report submitted to the parliament, Peter Lindsay said that "the Mongolian government covered all the internal costs of the visit, and I have accessed my study trip entitlement to fund the cost of the airfares to and from Mongolia."
The AAP report did not indicate the actual cost of the latest group travel though it said that the trip would partly check on the work of AusAID in both countries, maybe due to Mr Debus role as chairman of the relatively obscure Australia-Bhutan Friendship Group.
For his part, Senator Xenophon offered that retiring politicians often took a final trip since there is no need for them to stay and campaign for the elections, adding that "many MPs facing election would not take these trips."