Public left in the dark on federal MPs’ use of taxpayer-funded VIP jets

The loss of two key transparency systems has left the public blind to politicians' use of taxpayer-funded travel and expenses, including trips taken in costly VIP government jets.

Reporting systems run by the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority and the Department of Defence are both inactive, and are expected to remain offline for extended periods.

A software problem has left Ipea unable to publish its quarterly reports on MP expenses, a key transparency measure designed to stop rorting and expense misuse.

It has not published any data on MP expenses since October and does not expect to be able to resume publishing its quarterly reports until "the second half of 2023", when it is expected to transition to a new reporting system.

The special minister of state, Don Farrell, has authorised a lengthy postponement of the quarterly expense reports, and says the former government botched the upgrade of the expenses reporting system, known as the parliamentary expenses management system.

Farrell announced last year that he had asked the auditor general to review the implementation of the project.

"Labor has raised multiple concerns over a number of years with PEMS, including repeated questioning at Senate estimates since the project's commencement," Farrell said. "This should have never occurred."

He said work was now well under way to complete the new PEMS reporting module, and that "reporting will return in the second half of this year".

The Department of Defence, meanwhile, has chosen to temporarily stop publishing its biannual reports about the use of its RAAF "special purpose" jets, which are used by the prime minister and senior ministers and their staff. The flights are thought to cost about $4,600 an hour and the defence reports were the only way for the public to know how they were being used.

Defence says it is reviewing the guidelines around the publication of the reports due to security concerns, in consultation with the Australian federal police and the Department of Finance.

The government has not published updated details of the flights since August 2021, almost 18 months ago. The last disclosed flights were for those taken in July and December 2020.

This means taxpayers, who fund the flights, do not know how they were used for the entirety of 2021 and 2022.

Defence did not say when its review would be concluded or when it might resume publishing the reports.

"This review will ensure that security considerations are balanced with the need to remain accountable and transparent in the use of a public asset," a spokesperson said.

"The revised Guidelines will be presented for Government consideration to ensure they remain fit-for-purpose.

"Publishing of Special Purpose Aircraft schedules will be informed by the review."

Both reporting systems are frequently used by news outlets, including Guardian Australia, to expose MP expense scandals and rorts. In 2020 the Guardian used both reporting systems to reveal that cabinet ministers had billed taxpayers to travel to a political fundraiser, the then deputy prime minister Michael McCormack had taken a private RAAF jet to Melbourne ahead of the Melbourne Cup, and Pauline Hanson had billed taxpayers for a trip to Western Australia where she engaged in political fundraising.

Clancy Moore, the chief executive of Transparency International Australia, said the failure to disclose MP travel expenses and the use of special purpose flights meant that "important information is being hidden from the public".

"For many years, it's a standard transparency measure that MPs' travel and expenses are disclosed every three months and special purpose flights every six months," Moore said. "This helps build accountability and limit the risk of rorting and dodgy travel claims."

The Greens senator David Shoebridge said the loss of special purpose flight reporting meant Australians have had "zero transparency" about the use of taxpayer-funded jets for the past two years.

"This is public money using public resources and there should be a clear obligation to disclose," he said.

"This was a critical period during the pandemic when travel was extremely difficult for most Australians so scrutiny about politicians' travel is especially important.

"It's hard to accept that an all-purpose AFP secrecy blanket should be over these flights to protect MPs from scrutiny."