3.1 A senator or member when travelling within Australia, excluding the external territories, on parliamentary, electorate or official business but not including party business (other than meetings of a parliamentary political party, or of its executive, or of its committees, and the national conference of a political party, of which he or she is a member), shall be entitled to travel at government expense.
3.2 For the purpose of clause 3.1 official business means attendance at:
(a) properly constituted meetings of a Government advisory committee or task force provided that the senator or member is a member of the committee or task force;
(b) functions representing a Minister or a Presiding Officer on official business as a Minister or Presiding Officer, provided that the Minister or Presiding Officer nominates the function in advance in a written request to the senator or member to represent him or her.
3.3 Travel in accordance with clause 3.1 above may be on scheduled commercial or commuter air services, mainline rail services or by motor coach and other vehicles operating as regular carriers and may include:
(a) by charter transport, provided that where charter transport is used the senator or member must pay for any additional cost as between the charter transport and the estimated reimbursement cost of private vehicle allowance at the rate specified in clause 5.1 for the most reasonable and usual route between the departure and destinations points; or
(b) the cost of transporting a vehicle on a ferry service that a senator or member is travelling on within his or her electorate (which means, in the case of a senator, the state or territory he/she represents). The service may depart from or return to a place outside the electorate.
3.4 The Special Minister of State shall have a discretion to approve the use of charter transport within Australia at government expense in special cases, including such use by the Leader of a recognised party of at least 5 members and circumstances where there are no scheduled commercial services or a senator or member would be unduly delayed by the use of scheduled services. This entitlement does not extend to the use of charter transport for purposes which are covered by the charter entitlement provided under clauses 7.1 to 7.9 of this determination.
3.5 Additional travel on scheduled commercial/commuter air services at Commonwealth expense shall be authorised in the following circumstances:
in the case of a senator for the Northern Territory or the member for Lingiari, travel to the Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Christmas Island on electorate business;
in the case of the member for Canberra and senators of the Australian Capital Territory, travel to Norfolk Island on electorate business;
in the case of the Leader of a recognised party of at least 5 members in the Parliament, travel within Australia and to the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Christmas Island and Norfolk Island on functions or duties connected with the office of Leader;
in the case of a senator or member who is a member of a parliamentary committee, travel to the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Christmas Island and Norfolk Island on committee business as formally authorised by the committee; and
in the case of the relevant shadow minister with responsibility for the external territories, travel to the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Christmas Island and Norfolk Island, in the performance of duties or functions connected with the office of shadow minister.
3.6 When a senator or member is travelling by air, rail or sea at government expense, the fare shall not exceed the cost of a business class air fare for the most reasonable and usual route, between the departure and destination points. Where a business class air fare is not published for the destination point, the cost to the Commonwealth of travel by air, rail or sea must not exceed the economy class air fare for the most reasonable and usual route, between the departure and destination points.
3.6.1 Special circumstances: Where a senator or member provides a medical certificate stating that he or she is unable to travel by air, the Special Minister of State may approve payment of the full cost of the fare for travel by an alternative mode, or modes, of transport. The Special Minister of State may also approve car transport to the embarkation point, and from the point of arrival nearest the destination, if there is no other provision in this Determination which applies to that part of the trip. If travel under this provision necessarily includes an overnight journey, the senator or member should have access to private sleeper accommodation, where available.
3.7 A senator or member when travelling by air to or from Canberra on parliamentary business shall be entitled to carry one additional piece of luggage within the airline size limits at government expense.
FAMILY REUNION TRAVEL
3.8 Subject to clauses 3.9 to 3.21, a senator or member is entitled to be accompanied or joined when travelling at Commonwealth expense on parliamentary, electorate or official business by any one or more of the senator’s or member’s:
spouse or nominee;
dependent children;
designated person(s).
3.9 Where on any leg of the journey the member or senator is not accompanied to and/or from the final destination by a person specified in clause 3.8, that person must:
(a) arrive no more than 24 hours before the senator or member arrives; and/or
(b) depart no more than 24 hours after the senator or member departs.
3.10 Notwithstanding clause 3.9 – for travel where the final destination is Canberra, an entitlement exists for a senator or member under clause 3.8 in respect of a person specified in that clause where they:
(a) accompany or join a senator or member and remain in Canberra without the senator or member between adjoining sitting weeks, provided the senator or member returns to Canberra for the second sitting week;
(b) accompany or join a Presiding Officer (including a Deputy Presiding Officer) and remain in Canberra at any time that the Presiding Officer is temporarily absent from Canberra on parliamentary or official business related to the office.
3.11 The entitlement under clause 3.8 is limited to travel for non-commercial purposes by:
scheduled commercial services by any mode of transport, by the most direct route to the intended destination for the mode of transport used without voluntary stopovers; and
special purpose (Defence) aircraft the use of which has been approved by the Minister for Defence before the particular travel.
3.12 In addition to clause 3.11, where the spouse, nominee, dependent child or designated person, in relation to a senator or member from:
Western Australia;
the Northern Territory; or
Queensland at least 1,100kms flight distance from Brisbane;
travels to or from Canberra, the journey may be broken by one stop-over of one night in a capital city, only where the stop-over is necessary because there is no same-day connecting flight reasonably available and the journey to or from Canberra is completed the following day.
Canberra and Intra-State Family Travel (other than for ACT Senators and Members)
3.13 The cost of travel listed in clause 3.15 below is limited to the combined value of:
9 business class return trips to Canberra from the spouse’s or nominee’s principal place of residence; and
3 business class return trips to Canberra from the principal place of residence for each dependent child.
OR for senators and members, whose home base is within 150km of Canberra by road, the combined value of:
9 business class return trips between Canberra and Sydney for the spouse or nominee; and
3 business class return trips between Canberra and Sydney for each dependent child.
3.14 The value of the fares under clause 3.13 will be calculated on 1 July each year for expenditure during that year. Where a business class fare is not available, the cost of travel is limited to the value of an economy class fare for the most reasonable and usual route between the departure and destination points.
3.15 Within the cost limitation described in clauses 3.13 and 3.14 above, a senator’s or member’s spouse, nominee, dependent child or designated person may travel at the class of travel selected by the senator or member between the following locations:
to Canberra;
from Canberra to the senator’s or member’s electorate or their home base;
on intra-state trips within the senator’s or member’s home state or territory (except when the family member would be travelling to join the senator or member at the principal place of residence after they have been to another destination for private purposes); or
for a spouse or nominee, from the spouse’s or nominee’s principal place of residence to the senator’s or member’s electorate.
Inter-State Family Travel (including for ACT Senators and Members)
3.16 In addition to the entitlement described in clauses 3.13, 3.14 and 3.15, all senators and members (including those from the ACT) are entitled to be accompanied or joined at Commonwealth expense on a total of 3 business class return inter-state trips each year by a person specified in clause 3.8. The senator or member may choose which combination of a spouse or nominee, dependent child or designated person may access this entitlement.
3.17 Such inter-state trips may be converted to intra-state trips or trips to Canberra; the basis of the conversion being one trip for one trip.
3.17A Once the entitlement to travel under clause 3.16 has been exhausted, a breastfeeding senator or member travelling inter-state at Commonwealth expense on parliamentary, electorate or official business may be accompanied or joined by her spouse, nominee or designated person, to provide support while she continues to breastfeed her child. Travel for this purpose is to be at economy class.
No Carry Over Provision
3.18 A trip is deemed to be a trip in a year only if commenced in that year.
3.19 For each year, if the entitlement to Canberra/intra-state travel (under clause 3.13) is not fully spent, or all the inter-state trips (under clause 3.16) are not used, the unused portion of the entitlement will not be added to the entitlement for any later year.
Representational Travel
3.20 Where a senator or member has an entitlement to travel under the provisions of this Determination and is prevented by illness or parliamentary or family reasons from attending one of the functions set out below, then the senator or member may be represented by his or her spouse or nominee at:
(a) a funeral;
(b) a function where the spouse or nominee accepts an award or honour on behalf of the senator or member;
(c) a function within the electorate of the senator or member and to which the senator or member has been invited; or
(d) any other function as approved by the Special Minister of State.
The cost of such a trip shall be deducted from the cost limitation calculated under clauses 3.13 and 3.14.
Additional Travel
3.21 Travel by a senator’s or member’s spouse or nominee in order to attend an official government, parliamentary or vice-regal function as an invitee shall be at Commonwealth expense. This provision is additional to any entitlement in clause 3.8.