Newly elected Liberal senator Zed Seselja is determined to break tradition by moving his electorate office out of Civic.
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Unlike his predecessors, Gary Humphries and Margaret Reid, he does not want his office to be in central Canberra.
''My preference would be to be out in the suburbs but I will see out the terms of the [existing] lease,'' he said.
The office of former Liberal senator Humphries is in Bunda Street, adjacent to the Canberra Centre. A Finance Department spokeswoman confirmed the electoral office available to the new senator was that vacated by Mr Humphries.
Labor's Senator Kate Lundy also has her electorate office in Civic.
In the Legislative Assembly election last year, Mr Seselja, then ACT opposition leader, moved to the Brindabella electorate that includes Tuggeranong. The electorate office of the Labor MP for Fraser, Andrew Leigh, is in Braddon while that of the Labor MP for Canberra, Gai Brodtmann, is in Tuggeranong.
Mr Seselja does not want to break the lease on the Civic office because of the likely penalty.
But he said that after the lease expired, he may open an electorate office in Canberra's south.
In Parliament House he will be allocated a backbencher's office.
As ACT opposition leader, Mr Seselja earned almost $213,000, made up of the $125,259 base salary for MLAs and the opposition leader's allowance of $87,681.
Mr Seselja will be sworn into the Senate when Parliament resumes but his salary is backdated to the date of the election.
His salary in Federal Parliament will be $195,130, with extra benefits including electorate and travel allowances.
The electorate allowance of $32,000 a year is to cover the cost of providing services to constituents.
The Remuneration Tribunal says an ACT senator who lives within a 30-kilometre radius of Parliament House will be paid $84 for each day he or she attends sittings of Parliament.
Senators are permitted to have up to 30 domestic overnight stays a year and are entitled to a travel allowance of between $250 and $400.
As well, an ACT senator is allowed an extra 11 nights travel allowance each year to Norfolk Island.
ACT senators are provided with the use of a private-plated car.
Within certain limits, a senator also is entitled to be accompanied by one or more family members when travelling at Commonwealth expense on parliamentary, electorate or official business.
Mr Seselja will be responsible for recruiting electorate staff.
