Speaker Vicki Dunne was accompanied by her husband on an overseas trip paid for by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, more than a year after a ban on taxpayer-funded spousal travel for ACT Legislative Assembly members.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
In her latest declaration of interests, Mrs Dunne lists travel paid for by the association for a meeting of its executive committee in Sabah, Malaysia, beginning on April 27.
Association travel rules allow delegates to convert the cost of a business class ticket to two economy fares. Mrs Dunne's husband Lyle Dunne travelled with her to Malaysia for a family holiday before the meeting.
Accommodation at the five-star Shangri La's Tanjung Aru Resort and Spa during the meeting was paid for by the Sabah local government.
A spokesman for Mrs Dunne said airfares for the trip cost about $2200. The assembly provided her with a travelling allowance of $500, used for some out-of-pocket expenses including a wreath for Anzac Day commemorations at Sandakan.
The association's travel rules are at odds with official travel entitlements for ACT politicians, changed last year to end spousal travel paid for by the taxpayer. Mrs Dunne sought advice from the assembly clerk and ethics and integrity adviser before booking the travel.
The ACT Remuneration Tribunal brought forward an end to spousal travel after news broke of a trip by Mrs Dunne, her husband, Liberal member Giulia Jones and a staffer to study prostitution laws in Europe.
The $37,000 study tour went ahead, despite strong advice from the assembly clerk that taxpayers should not fund travel for staff. In March it was reported the Speaker and Mr Dunne took a $9000 trip to Samoa for the Presiding Officers and Clerks Conference, approved before the spousal travel ban came into force.
The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association is funded by membership from parliaments around the world, including more than $14,000 from ACT taxpayers last financial year.
"The Speaker is chair of the ACT Branch of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and represents the Australian region on the CPA executive committee," a spokesman said.
"Any out-of-pocket expenses relating to Mr Dunne were met privately. Travel for CPA-related meetings are made in accordance with CPA rules.
"The Remuneration Tribunal does not make determinations about the expenditure of third-party funds," the spokesman said.
The Assembly's Members' Guide says travel should be planned in a way "to avoid any perception that private travel is being undertaken at public expense."
The assembly branch of the association voted unanimously to remain in the body in 2014 despite the Federal Parliament withdrawing after more than a hundred years as part of the organisation.
Federal MPs and senators voted to withdraw over concerns about serious corruption inside the association and claims of maladministration.
After a meeting in Nairobi, Kenya in September 2010, a report to the federal Parliament said MPs were "extremely concerned at the current direction of the association". It questioned the association's relevance, lack of direction, poor standards of transparency, poor financial oversight and behaviour of some senior office holders.
The report called for changes to the duration, frequency and cost of association events and described the purchase of a London home for the association's secretary-general as "totally inappropriate".
There is no suggestion of improper conduct by any member of the ACT Legislative Assembly branch.
Mrs Dunne has previously declared other travel for association events, including to the Cayman Islands in March 2013, London in April 2014 at a cost of $7200 and Cameroon in October 2014.
She also attended a regional conference in Melbourne in November 2013. The Assembly branch contributed $5862.50 to the event.
The association's 61st conference will take place in Islamabad, Pakistan in September.
