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The Queensland parliament has refused to hand over details about which state MPs are sleeping at parliament, after figures showed the cost of private stays in parliamentary accommodation had increased by 400 per cent in the last year.
Questions about the private use of the parliamentary annexe – a 23-storey tower on Alice Street predominantly used by state MPs during sitting weeks – were raised during the first estimates hearing on Monday.
Labor MP Mark Ryan asked for a breakdown of all government and non-government members that had used the Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT) liability, an employment benefit that allows MPs to declare private nights or stays by family members in the parliamentary annexe, after use of the scheme spiked in the last year.
“The total Fringe Benefits Tax liability by the parliament due to private use of accommodation … has increased from almost $7,000 last year to almost $35,000 this year,” Ryan said.
“That is an almost 400 per cent increase from the previous year.”
Parliamentary speaker Pat Weir said he was reluctant to provide case-by-case details revealing which MPs were using the scheme, and at what frequency.
“We have had instances where we have had members [who] have significant challenges in their lives that have stayed at this parliament, and I have no intention to go any further than where we are,” Weir said.
“I’m relying on the honesty and integrity of the members to fill out their declaration.”
Asked whether parliament would provide information without naming MPs individually, Queensland’s Clerk of the Parliament Neil Laurie said he did not “want to start a slippery slope where we’re treating members according to party rather than according to the fact that they’re members”.
“It’s my position that such a list shouldn’t be provided by party to party breakdown because we don’t treat members party by party here,” Laurie said.
He said it would be more revealing to look at an annual figure within a context of a longer period of time.
“The list that we have here today is a snapshot of one or two years, and I think that would tell you more if you were looking at a 10-year period,” he said.
“I just don’t want to go there, and I don’t think anyone should.”
The FBT scheme relies on an honesty system, with members asked to declare their use of the benefit by March 31.
Laurie said the Australian Taxation Office appeared happy with the way the benefit operated, but admitted that some members did not submit their declarations.
“Would I like every member to return the certificate? Yes, but there’s a point at which we just stop following up members over it,” Laurie said.
The use of parliamentary accommodation was raised in last year’s budget estimates, with Labor asking how many personal nights had been used by Premier David Crisafulli and Olympics Minister Tim Mander.
Mander’s use of the annexe was further scrutinised in April following reports he was enrolled to vote at the address of a staffer and had been living in parliamentary accommodation after splitting with his wife.
He was stood down from his sport and Olympic portfolios pending an investigation by Australian Federal Police, but was cleared of any wrongdoing and reinstated as minister last week.
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