Attorney-General Rowland to repay some travel money; cost of government’s battery subsidy scheme explodes

As the expenses affairs continues  to roll through the Albanese government like a wrecking ball, Attorney-General Michelle Rowland will repay some of the $21,685  she charged for a family holiday in Western Australia in 2023.

This follows advice on Friday from the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority (IPEA) that a portion of the spending breached the official guidelines.

But the government is resisting any suggestion she should quit her post. Asked on Sunday whether Rowland should resign, Treasurer Jim Chalmers told Sky, “I don’t believe so. I think Michelle’s done the right thing in asking the IPEA to take another look.”

Rowland’s office on Sunday could not say how much she will repay.

Coalition finance spokesman James Paterson, condemning “a culture of entitlement” within the government, said Rowland was “not just any minister. She’s a minister responsible for probity, for integrity, for transparency, and so a higher burden applies to her.

"The absolute bare minimum that should be required here is a referral to the Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet to inquire as to whether she has upheld the Ministerial Code of Conduct. And unless the prime minister can satisfy himself that she is compliant with the Ministerial Code of Conduct, then very serious and very obvious standards should then apply.

"The prime minister has been very quick to throw out precedent here. He’s repeatedly referred to the fact that Sussan Ley, as health minister, had to resign over her expenses during the Turnbull government. Well, if he’s happy with that standard for Sussan Ley, then he should hold his ministers to at least the same standard.”

Albanese on Friday said he had asked IPEA for advice about the travel rules for parliamentarians. Cabinet is set to discuss the issue on Monday.  Albanese is expected to announce some tightening, in light of widespread community outrage and continuing  revelations.

It was reported at the weekend Health Minister Mark Butler claimed taxpayer funds to fly his wife from Adelaide to Brisbane and back when he attended a Matildas game in August 2023 with Albanese and Sports Minister Anika Wells. Butler was invited apparently because he was the minister representing sport in the cabinet at the time, before Wells was elevated into cabinet.

Butler’s wife also went to the tennis with him in 2024, and his son accompanied him to the cricket in the same year (where Butler was making an announcement of funding for the McGrath Foundation).

Wells’ bill of $95,000 for herself, a staffer and a departmental official to fly to the United Nations in New York began the furore around travel entitlements which last week overshadowed the start of the government’s under-16s social media ban and continues to flood the news cycle.

Wells has asked IPEA to audit her entitlement claims. Her office has had no response yet.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers announced on Sunday the budget update will contain $20 billion in savings.

But while the government is boasting about these savings, it also admitted at the weekend that its scheme to subsidise the purchase of batteries has exploded in cost.

The subsidy,  available to households and small businesses, was earlier estimated to cost $2.3 billion up to 2030. But because many buyers have been purchasing large batteries, the cost  was headed to $14 billion.

This has forced the government to announce both extra funding and changes to rein in the blow out.

The revised version will now cost $7.2 billion over four years.

Under the present flat discount, very large batteries were cheaper than some smaller ones, encouraging people to invest in the bigger ones.  The  changes taper the discount for larger batteries so  it doesn’t cut the price  of very big batteries disproportionately.

The government says  that under the changes, two million households are now expected to have batteries by  2030, compared to the one million projection  when the scheme was announced before the election.

The future of the discount to encourage the take up of electric vehicles is also under review, with the government taking submissions until early February.