Former prime minister Tony Abbott, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten and more than a dozen federal MPs have dialled up their taxpayer-funded mobile phone bills to $1000 plus a week in figures from January 2016 to December 2017.
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The cost of supplying mobile phones to travelling representatives and their staff can vary from zero to more than $8500 per phone per month, a Sydney Morning Herald analysis has found.
The highest spending politician on the blower was Andrew Laming, Coalition MP for Bowman in Queensland, who, on a single phone, dialled up charges of $8669 in November 2016.
In July 2014, he also recorded the highest monthly mobile data bill of $8457, in figures from January 2014 to December 2017.
Mr Laming said the Department of Parliamentary Services (DPS) was responsible for administering all mobile phone plans and he always asks for the best deal before going overseas. He was in New Zealand on parliamentary business when his phone bill hit $8669.
"My monthly bills on either side of November 2016 were less than $300," Mr Laming said. "As the third lowest expending parliamentarian in Queensland, I always request the best possible data plan before embarking on overseas delegations."
The rules governing political expenses state that all MPs are "personally responsible and accountable" for their use of public resources and must ensure that their expenses "provide value for money".
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A DPS spokeswoman said options for international voice and data roaming were "available" to parliamentarians in 2015, 2016 and 2017.
Despite this, the highest phone bills for MPs were consistently recorded after they had travelled overseas.
"The department does not comment on matters related to individual parliamentarians," the spokeswoman said.
Assistant Treasurer Stuart Robert – who paid back about $38,000 for expenses he claimed to access the internet at his home earlier this year – had bills, for one phone, of $4936 in January 2016, $4248 in March 2016, $3077 in January 2017 and $3581 in June 2017.
A spokesman for Mr Robert said the DPS was responsible for administering mobile phone plans for MPs and "all questions in relation to usage costs are best directed to them".
Mr Shorten's total mobile phone expenses, including for more than 30 of his staff, were on average, $3200 a month in total last year and about $4750 in 2016.
A spokesperson for Mr Shorten said the mobile phone bills of Liberal government ministers together with those of their staff were not reported publicly because the departments they ran covered those costs.
"It is completely unsurprising that the Opposition Leader’s office is at the top of this list as it excludes every ministerial office," Mr Shorten's spokesman said.
Large bills to a single phone in January 2016 came from Labor senator Glenn Sterle ($5211), Liberal Senator Marise Payne ($6580) and Labor MP Joel Fitzgibbon ($4991).
Several Liberal and Labor MPs did not claim any mobile phone expenses in 2017, including Liberal MP Craig Laundy and Labor senator Kimberley Kitching.
Mr Abbott did not respond to requests for comment about his higher-than-average monthly mobile phone charges.
