An audit from the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority also said Mr Laming gave incorrect information to investigators by claiming he was a registered speaker at an event he in fact only attended for an hour.

But the MP for the Queensland seat of Bowman was defiant in response, rejecting the findings of what he called a "contemptible witch hunt". He will not repay the money.

The IPEA found Mr Laming breached regulations by claiming expenses, including for his wife and children, on three interstate trips over a six-day period in 2019.

The watchdog accused Mr Laming of providing only "vague references" and "no further specific and material evidence" related to the expenditure when the allegations were put to him.

He is likely to be required to repay $10,360.05, including GST, associated fees, and a 25 per cent penalty loading.

"Mr Laming's responses have been deficient in content and detail," the report found.

"In a number of instances where IPEA posed specific questions to Mr Laming, he obfuscated, provided inconsistent answers or ignored the question altogether."

On 21 June 2019, Mr Laming claimed expenses for himself, his wife, and two children after travelling from Brisbane to Hobart on what he claimed was parliamentary business.

He claimed similar expenses for a return trip days later.

The IPEA found the "dominant purpose" of the trips, at a combined cost of $3867.31, was not parliamentary business.

He then claimed expenses for his wife for a trip to a conference in Melbourne, which he only attended for an hour.

"IPEA understands his spouse attended in her own right and for the entirety of the Hort Connections conference," the report found.

"By his own evidence, Mr Laming was only in attendance for the final hour of the dinner that concluded the conference."

Responding to the findings, Mr Laming insisted his trip to Tasmania consisted of talks on developing a transport corridor in his electorate, legitimately attending a conference, and meeting with education experts.

He said he attended the Melbourne function when networking was possible.

"[The] IPEA has been forced to fabricate a nasty narrative, to obfuscate the reality that the Parliamentary account I provided was precisely what they discovered I did," he said.

"[That] of course didn't accord with the conclusion they had already drafted twelve months ago when they initiated this investigation, just days after the bizarre media accusations I faced which have all since amounted to nothing."

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The audit was launched after the IPEA found Mr Laming's responses to their queries "generally lacked the requested detail, were unsupported by evidence and were, at times, inconsistent".

The IPEA insisted it had undergone "extensive engagement" with Mr Laming, offering him the chance to correct any errors in its draft findings.

The IPEA said his responses included claims he had lost access to data from his electorate office, and an incorrect claim he had provided evidence to the watchdog that he was a registered speaker at the conference.

As Mr Laming continues to maintain his claims were within the rules, recovering the expenses will require a written ruling under the Parliamentary Businesses Resources Act 2017.

He will not contest the May election.

The MP was ordered to undergo empathy training in March 2021 by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, after acknowledging online comments to two women in his electorate had caused distress.

Mr Laming later withdrew an apology for the behaviour, stating none of his critics were genuine.

With the government holding just a one-seat majority, Mr Morrison declined to expel Mr Laming from the party room.