Albanese continues to shirk responsibility for parliamentary expenses saga; Illicit tobacco market costing taxpayers $11.8 billion, government report finds

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has continued to evade responsibility for the ongoing parliamentary expenses saga, which has seen MPs under intense scrutiny in recent weeks after it was revealed Communications Minister Anika Wells had exercised her parliamentary travel rights.

At a scathing press conference in Canberra yesterday, when asked about the finance minister’s regulation allowing senior MPs unlimited travel privileges for spouses, Albanese said: “I’m not the finance minister. I haven’t changed the rule.”

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley yesterday opened the door to a bipartisan overhaul of family travel privileges after she and senior shadow ministers said they were open to changes, but the prime minister stood firm against calls to roll back the rights.

Albanese was angered by the revelation that Special Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Don Farrell and Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young had charged taxpayers for 136 and 78 spousal flights respectively since 2022.

Albanese has distanced himself in 2017, repeatedly calling out Ley’s misuse of travel expenses, and Farrell has repeatedly noted that the finance minister is overseeing spending, even though he is the minister with most responsibility for the reauthorization scheme.

“I’m not influencing this from the top,” Albanese said.