“Save the Portland smelter” and “Save Deakin’s Warrnambool campus” – member for Wannon Dan Tehan said those two successful campaigns were part of the reason for his high telecommunications costs of $12,000 between June and December last year.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Mr Tehan had the highest telecommunications bills for a federal MP during that period.
He said other reasons for his big bill were because he ran two electorates offices, one in Warrnambool and another in Hamilton, so he and his staff could be accessible to his constituents.
His telecommunications bill covered the telephone, internet and fax charges for both offices, Mr Tehan said.
“City MPs only have one office,” he said.
Mr Tehan said the telecommunications bill also included the cost of listing his office phone numbers in several White Pages directories, which he did to make sure people could contact him.
Mr Tehan’s telecommunications bill was revealed in the latest batch of federal MPs' expenses reports released by the Department of Finance.
Federal politicians are also in the spotlight for a two per cent pay rise they are scheduled to receive from July 1 along with a cut to their tax rate.
The two per cent pay rise was ordered by the independent Remuneration Tribunal this month and will take effect on the same day that every MP benefits from a drop in the top marginal tax rate from 49 per cent to 47 per cent when the deficit repair levy ends.
The pay rise comes at a time of a looming cuts to penalty rates and historically low wages growth for a large proportion of the rest of the workforce.
The pay rise means Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's salary will rise from $517,504 to $527,852 while Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce will receive $416,191 a year from July 1.
The average cabinet minister will be paid $350,209.
In comparison, the median salary in Australia is about $80,000 per year.
Federal politicians received a 2.4 per cent pay rise on July 1, 2013, and got another two per cent rise of two per cent on January 1 2016.
Another MP attracting media attention is Upper House Member for Western Victoria James Purcell who left on Friday for a three week trip to the United Kingdom with his wife. He will study universities and nuclear power while he is away.
The trip comes only a week before State MPs will no longer be reimbursed for their partners’ international travel from July 1.
State parliament adjourned last week for the winter break until August 8.
