A new report by the Audit Office of NSW claims 35,151 payments totalling $26.4 million was paid to NSW members of parliament in the 2024–25 financial year.
The report reads, ‘Of these, 33,450 claims for payment – totalling $13.8 million – were in the scope of this compliance review. The remaining payments of $12.6 million (annual basic salaries, and electoral and committee allowances) were not within scope of this review’.
‘From a sample of 59 claims for the 2024–25 period, there were 29 departures from the requirements of the Determination and the administrative guidelines.
‘Loyalty and incentive scheme declarations (such as frequent flyer points) must be submitted at the end of financial year (ie 30 June) or within 30 days of ceasing to be a member. This review looked at 141 loyalty and incentive scheme declarations and found that 3 were submitted late’.
Recommendations
Recommendations suggested by the Audit Office of NSW is that The Department of Parliamentary Services should ‘evaluate the effectiveness of its training for members and consider other measures to improve the timelines of claim submissions; and consider conducting its annual internal audit process earlier in the year to identify audit findings sooner to better support members in meeting the requirements of the determination and the guidelines’.
The Echo asked The Audit Office of NSW whether the report found nearly half the amount assessed was ‘not within the scope’ of the review because the claims were considered ineligible, and did not meet requirements? If so, why are these payments made given they did not meet requirements?’
A spokesperson replied, ‘It is correct that $12.6 million was not within the scope of this audit’.
‘The reason for this is because this amount of payments relates to salaries and allowances and within the Annual Determination these payments are excluded from compliance review requirements.
‘So – it’s not saying that members that didn’t meet requirements for these payments. It’s saying that a compliance review was not a requirement for these payments and therefore was not included in the audit scope’, they said.
To read the report visit https://www.audit.nsw.gov.au/our-work/reports/members-additional-entitlements-2025
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