CANBERRA, March 29 (Xinhua) -- Australian MPs will need to gain approval from an independent authority before claiming taxpayer dollars for travel, under legislation to be introduced to federal Parliament later this week.
Following months of scandals involving MPs rorting the travel allowance system, the federal government will introduce a "dominant purpose" test, whereby MPs will be required to gain approval from the independent board before charging the taxpayer.
Under the proposed changes, MPs will only be allowed to claim travel expenses if the "dominant purpose" of the journey is deemed to be for proper Parliamentary business.
The legislation will be introduced later this week and is expected to garner bipartisan support. Special Minister of State, Scott Ryan on Wednesday told Fairfax Media the legislation would give MPs a clear definition of what is deemed a claimable expense.
He said while MPs will be under stricter guidelines, it is still expected that they travel to and from Parliamentary business on the taxpayer dime.
"If I happen to be in Sydney for a meeting of a committee, or parliamentary work, or ministerial work and I then did something in the afternoon that could be described as party political I don't think that would be an issue," Ryan said on Wednesday.
"As long as the dominant purpose - the real reason I was there - really was parliamentary business."
The new perk rules come just a month after the federal government scrapped the controversial "Life Gold Pass" which allowed former MPs to take domestic business class flights for free.
