Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has offered bipartisan support to reform travel perks for politicians, while calling for Anika Wells to resign as minister.
Ms Ley said she had written to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese requesting a meeting about changes to parliamentary travel entitlements and the ministerial code of conduct.
It follows controversy surrounding Ms Wells, who is the sports and communications minister, for her claiming travel to major sporting events for she and her husband.
A growing list of MPs and senators have also been in the spotlight for their use of travel perks.
Ms Ley said she was prepared to meet with the prime minister to discuss changes to be more in line with community standards.
“We stand ready in a bipartisan sense, I’m working through summer. I can sit down with the prime minister any time and go through measures that he would like to propose implement, to restore that public trust in the system,” she told Sky News on Friday.
“What I want to see is that public trust restored and public confidence in the system, and that’s clearly gone right off the rails under Prime Minister Albanese.”
Ms Ley also called for Ms Wells to resign as minister over her use of parliamentary entitlements.
Ms Wells referred herself on Tuesday to the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority and has said her travel has been within the guidelines.
Politicians are allowed to claim travel expenses if their official duties are the “dominant purpose” of the trip, and are also entitled to fly family to Canberra and other locations around Australia for family reunions.
But the opposition leader said Ms Wells’ conduct and use of travel entitlements was “scandalous”.
“The whole country is reeling from all of the information that they’ve received about what she has done. She has not shown an ounce of contrition. She has not stepped up and said sorry,” she said.
“If (the prime minister) can’t stand there and tell the Australian people that this minister has not breached the code of conduct, then she should resign.”
The parliamentary expenses watchdog was set up following controversy over Ms Ley during her time as health minister, when she used taxpayer funds to travel to the Gold Coast to buy a property.
It led to Ms Ley’s resignation as minister and MPs and senators being required to report their expenses on a monthly basis.
“I made a mistake, I put my hand up, apologised to the Australian people, I held myself accountable to the ministerial code of conduct. Anika Wells has done none of those three things,” the opposition leader said.
The prime minister on Thursday brushed off questions on whether the travel perks were too generous, but did not shut the door on possible reform of the system.
Health Minister Mark Butler said he was open to changes in what travel arrangements politicians were entitled to.
“These rules are important, these jobs place enormous pressure on our families, particularly on our partners who do so much of family work while we’re away for as much as 150 or 200 days a year,” he told Seven’s Sunrise program.
“But they’ve got to be reasonable and they’ve got to be used in a sensible way.
“If there is advice and recommendations from this independent parliamentary authority that they come up with while they’re considering Anika Wells’ claims, I for one would welcome that.”
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