BOWMAN MP Andrew Laming spent more than $13,500 of public funds to take his family on a week-long trip to the Northern Territory last year.
The information was revealed by the Australian Government’s Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority, which was set up last July to ensure MPs use public resources ethically.
It is understood that under family travel provisions Mr Laming flew his wife Olesja and their two daughters, aged 9 and 5, from Brisbane to Darwin via Townsville on June 30 last year.
He met his family at Townsville for the trip to Kununurra after returning from Papua New Guinea, before flying back with them to Brisbane via Perth seven days later on business class.
The venture cost taxpayers about $13,600 in domestic flights for the Bowman MPs family members.
Mr Laming said he was one of the least travelled and lowest claiming federal MPs in the nation but a cancelled Qantas service led to a re-routing of flights that was unavoidable.
“The remote visit to Kununurra was exclusively work-related to attend the annual NAIDOC week and specifically to inspect the healthy welfare card roll-out that is only occurring in two remote towns,” he said.
It was critical for him to hear from community groups on welfare quarantine and drug testing, he said.
He was prepared to meet with remote service providers in places where most people could not be bothered going.
“On rare occasions in remote Australia, my family has accompanied me where there is a significant women and children component to the visit,” he said.
“Having family visit an Indigenous community opens up the discussion in a way that I couldn't achieve alone. It is ridiculous to refer to a trip to a remote desert town as a holiday.”
Mr Laming also claimed $84,140 for printing and communication jobs between July and September but was not the federal government’s biggest spender in Queensland.
Oxley MP Milton Dick racked up $132,426, followed closely by Immigration Minister Peter Dutton who claimed $100,267.06.
Mr Laming sent a survey to every Bowman household in April to gauge public opinion on topics, including climate change, welfare, drug addiction and gay marriage.
This was seven months before the $122 million national plebiscite on marriage equality.
He said same-sex marriage had been polled in four of the six surveys he had conducted since 2006 and most respondents were opposed to such unions.
The Redlands yes vote proved slightly higher than the national average, with 62.1 per cent voting yes in the national plebiscite last November.
Mr Laming’s $84,140 expenditure on printing and communications costs, which includes distribution and e-material, came after he claimed $30,182.49 between April and June.
Mr Laming said his printing costs were routine and would appear in virtually all MP reports nationwide.
“It barely amounts to a dollar per person and is the only investment that encourages locals to think about national issues and have a say,” he said.
He said he would continue his electorate survey which was Australia's largest.
