Senator defends travel claim during defamation case
Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has defended charging taxpayers for travel in a libel case as MPs’ expenses come under renewed scrutiny.
Senator Nampijinpa Price received travel grants totaling $1980 for 12 nights in Darwin between 18 October and 30 October.
The Liberal senator also claimed $1060 from taxpayers for return flights to Darwin from Alice Springs, where the case is heard.
The senator said all travel requests are within official rules.
He was defending a defamation lawsuit filed by an Indigenous land council over a media statement he published in July 2024.
Two family members also billed $550 to return with him from Darwin to Alice Springs, where he lives, on October 30.
Senator Nampijinpa Price said at the time that he was undertaking parliamentary duties “consistent with my responsibilities as a senator representing the Territorials”.
“The travel and accommodation requests referred to were made fully in accordance with Independent Parliamentary Expenditures Authority rules,” he told AAP.
Under the right to travel rules, MPs must ensure that the primary purpose of their travel is parliamentary business and that they act in good faith.
The latest data also reveals that One Nation leader Pauline Hanson charged taxpayers nearly $9,000 for a chartered plane to attend the opening of a private university building funded by billionaire Gina Rinehart.
Senator Hanson took a chartered flight from Tamworth in NSW to Avalon in Victoria in October to attend the opening of the $11.3 million Nicholas Hancock House at Marcus Oldham College, where Hancock Agriculture CEO Adam Giles delivered the keynote address.
Senator Hanson’s spokesman said commercial options were not available and the cheapest of five offers for charter planes was used.
The spokesman said Senator Hanson attended the opening because the building provides Queensland students with a “home away from home” while they study.
“He also discussed increases in HECS loans for students attending university, which is a private institution that receives no taxpayer funding.”
A parliamentary watchdog has updated travel rights rules after the prime minister called for a review of family allowances.
Rights have been tightened, including canceling families flying in business class, after it was revealed MPs were charging taxpayers to fly them and their families to attend sporting events and holidays.
