Costly commute: Senator Sam’s expenses at the Top End

Former Northern Territory senator Sam McMahon, rolled by the Country Liberals to make way for Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, made the most of her final months in office, billing taxpayers $74,635 for 186 nights away from home between April 2021 and January 2022.

Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has big shoes to fill replacing Sam McMahon.Credit:Joe Benke

According to data from the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority, McMahon’s travel allowance claims between January and March dwarfed those of her former colleagues, which the ex-senator puts down to the size of the NT.

“I haven’t seen the data myself, but it wouldn’t surprise me given the fact that I actually live 330 kilometres away from my office,” she said.

A resident of Katherine, McMahon lived it up when travelling to her Darwin office, spending $457 a night on hotel accommodation on each of her 100-plus nights in town – a rate she described as probably standard for the town.

It’s quite the luxury, and we’re sure McMahon will miss it almost as much as CBD will miss her flamboyant contribution to life on the hill. A veterinarian who boasted one of parliament’s biggest property portfolios, including investments in Lombok, Indonesia, and Arizona (the latter sold last year), McMahon’s most recent brush with infamy came when she faced (and denied) claims she was “maggotted” during a late-night Senate sitting last year.

Price, a Sky News darling already making a steady name for herself in this column, sure has big shoes to fill.

McMahon wasn’t the only soon-to-be-former pollie cashing in during their final days. George Christensen billed taxpayers $49,500 on “e-material” between December and March, during which time he spent thousands on Facebook ads promoting anti-vaccine mandate causes. And former Bowman MP Andrew Laming topped the office expenditure ladder, charging voters nearly $150,000 on printing and communications between May 2021 and March this year.

POLICY DROP

Open government is not exactly the Andrews government’s MO.

The premier’s private office – with its airtight circle of trust and command-and-control structure – hides any skeletons expertly. One wonders how Liberal frontbencher David Davis has time to do his day job as shadow treasurer given how often he is in VCAT challenging freedom of information rejections. God’s work.

This penchant for secrecy heightened the sense of intrigue when a group of previously confidential workplace policies were published on a government website on Friday. Included was the code of conduct for staffers in the premier’s office and ministerial offices, workplace bullying policies and a procedure for misconduct cases.

The new policies came into effect on July 15, the same day they were published.

Some Labor insiders speculated that the document dump was designed to get ahead of an issue that may raise questions about the role of government advisers.

But Daniel Andrews’ office insisted there was nothing in it. Rather, after years of coverage of poor culture in federal parliament, and after the Adem Somyurek scandal showed advisers performing party-political activities during work hours, the policies were due for a refresh.

“We’ve updated our workplace policies … these are commonsense changes that strengthen processes and expectations relating to staff behaviour,” a government spokeswoman said.

The new guidelines establish a positive obligation to consider reporting sexual harassment. And any government staffers thinking of complaining about a bad boss, be warned. “To make a formal allegation of misconduct against another person, the details of the allegation must be put in writing,” the code says. “Not all allegations and instances of misconduct will result in an investigation or in a sanction for the employee, and each will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.”

KEEP IT IN THE FAMILY

Politicians often find it difficult to get their children interested in the weird world of politics. No such troubles for Victorian deputy Liberal leader David Southwick.

His son Tyler, a law student at Monash University, has taken up a job in Opposition Leader Matthew Guy’s office.

He previously worked in senator Jane Hume’s office. Guy’s team were keen to lure Southwick, who they think will help their efforts on social media, grassroots campaigning and research.

David Southwick with Opposition Leader Matthew Guy.Credit:Justin McManus

Southwick jnr will hope to avoid slip-ups similar to those made by his new colleagues in Guy’s office. After using a stock image of a pothole-ridden road in Ukraine to illustrate the condition of Victoria’s roads, Guy’s Facebook profile briefly posted an Airbnb ad for a home in Tasmania last month.

Liberals are growing increasingly bullish about the November election. A campaign preparation conference was held on Saturday and attended by MPs, candidates and other officials.

It appears the opposition has settled on its campaign slogan of “real solutions for all Victorians”. It mirrors the Abbott era’s “real solutions for all Australians”.

SPOTTED

Footy media baron Eddie McGuire with under-pressure North Melbourne chief executive Ben Amarfio and president Sonja Hood at Prahran brunch spot Hobba.

McGuire insisted he was not playing the role of crisis management adviser. It was, he says, a meeting to prepare for Hood’s impending grilling on Nine’s Footy Classified.

“Just good old-fashioned journalism,” he told CBD.

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis from Jacqueline Maley. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter here.

Most Viewed in National

From our partners

Source: Read Full Article