Darren Chester’s parliamentary expenses for the latest four reported quarters (1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026): $660,577
(1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026)
Position: Shadow Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry; member of the Shadow Cabinet; Deputy Leader of the National Party
Darren Chester is Shadow Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry; member of the Shadow Cabinet; Deputy Leader of the National Party. Darren Chester claimed $660,577 in parliamentary expenses over the latest four reported quarters (1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026), which smooths out one-off quarters. That ranks 135th of 226 parliamentarians; the median is $704,511. Latest quarter (Jul–Sep 2026): $168,947. Largest categories: Office Administration ($270,002); Office Facilities ($174,547); Employee Travel ($87,876). Includes family and nominee travel, as in IPEA's own totals.
How these figures differ from IPEA’s
IPEA reports claims quarter by quarter. Political Gadgets adds up the latest four reported quarters to smooth one-off spikes (an election period, an overseas trip), then compares each parliamentarian with the median of all 226 and, for House members, with similar groups. The underlying data is IPEA’s; IPEA is the authoritative source. See IPEA’s Background on Expenditure Reporting.
Clusters group the 150 House electorates by shared traits (front-bench position, seat area, state, urban/rural); medians use the same rolling four-quarter totals as the headline figure, including family and nominee travel. Clusters with a single member are not shown. Source: Compare Electorates – browse by cluster.
Darren Chester's total in each category over the latest four reported quarters (1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026), compared with the median of all sitting parliamentarians in that category.
Office Administration – Darren Chester, for the latest four reported quarters (1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026)
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Office Administration
$270,002
$262,346
$7,656 above the median of $262,346
Printing and Communications
$200,979
Office Consumables and Services
$66,497
Publications
$2,526
Office Facilities – Darren Chester, for the latest four reported quarters (1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026)
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Office Facilities
$174,547
$188,110
$13,563 below the median of $188,110
Office Facilities - Not stated
$174,547
Employee Travel – Darren Chester, for the latest four reported quarters (1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026)
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Employee Travel
$87,876
$124,917
$37,041 below the median of $124,917
Domestic Travel
$87,876
Other Car Costs – Darren Chester, for the latest four reported quarters (1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026)
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Other Car Costs
$48,571
$28,254
$20,317 above the median of $28,254
Private-Plated Vehicle
$24,983
COMCAR
$23,588
Travel Allowance – Darren Chester, for the latest four reported quarters (1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026)
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Travel Allowance
$45,165
$34,320
$10,845 above the median of $34,320
Travel Allowance
$45,165
Scheduled Commercial Transport – Darren Chester, for the latest four reported quarters (1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026)
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Scheduled Commercial Transport
$22,402
$45,732
$23,330 below the median of $45,732
Fares
$22,402
Telecommunications – Darren Chester, for the latest four reported quarters (1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026)
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Telecommunications
$6,062
$2,683
$3,379 above the median of $2,683
Telecommunications - Usage
$4,178
Telecommunications - Residential - Official
$1,885
Family or Nominee Travel – Darren Chester, for the latest four reported quarters (1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026)
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Family or Nominee Travel
$4,567
$1,839
$2,728 above the median of $1,839
Scheduled Commercial Transport
$4,347
COMCAR
$220
International Travel – Darren Chester, for the latest four reported quarters (1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026)
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
International Travel
$1,096
$0
$1,096 above the median of $0
Parliamentary Delegations
$1,096
Unscheduled Commercial Transport – Darren Chester, for the latest four reported quarters (1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026)
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Unscheduled Commercial Transport
$290
$340
$50 below the median of $340
Parliamentary Duties
$290
Total across all periods: $6,257,857 (1 Jan 2018 – 30 Sep 2026, 35 quarters)
Refunds and credits are netted off. Category names from earlier reporting formats are matched to their current names. Explore quarter by quarter.
Office Administration – Darren Chester, all periods
Category
Amount
Office Administration
$2,128,374
Printing and Communications
$1,705,044
Office Consumables and Services
$359,895
Publications
$43,868
Specified Public Resources
$19,566
Office Facilities – Darren Chester, all periods
Category
Amount
Office Facilities
$1,454,421
Office Facilities - Not stated
$1,454,421
Employee Travel – Darren Chester, all periods
Category
Amount
Employee Travel
$877,292
Domestic Travel
$788,273
International Travel
$89,018
Other Car Costs – Darren Chester, all periods
Category
Amount
Other Car Costs
$445,107
Private-Plated Vehicle
$252,380
COMCAR
$192,727
Unscheduled Commercial Transport – Darren Chester, all periods
Category
Amount
Unscheduled Commercial Transport
$443,706
Parliamentary Duties
$324,372
Official Duties
$85,393
Electorate Duties
$24,750
Office Holder
$4,477
Party Political Duties
$2,609
Special Charter
$2,105
Travel Allowance – Darren Chester, all periods
Category
Amount
Travel Allowance
$385,486
Travel Allowance
$385,486
International Travel – Darren Chester, all periods
Category
Amount
International Travel
$237,444
Ministerial Visits
$148,342
Parliamentary Delegations
$89,102
Scheduled Commercial Transport – Darren Chester, all periods
Category
Amount
Scheduled Commercial Transport
$177,612
Fares
$177,612
Telecommunications – Darren Chester, all periods
Category
Amount
Telecommunications
$91,751
Telecommunications - Usage
$77,704
Telecommunications - Residential - Official
$14,046
Family or Nominee Travel – Darren Chester, all periods
Category
Amount
Family or Nominee Travel
$16,667
Scheduled Commercial Transport
$14,856
COMCAR
$1,810
What’s included in these figures
The total for Darren Chester is the sum of all expenses charged to Darren Chester’s parliamentary office and
reported by the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority (IPEA) over the latest four reported quarters (1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026): travel,
office facilities and administration, vehicles, communications and other categories. Refunds and credits
are netted off, so a category can be negative. Family and nominee travel is included, as in
IPEA’s own headline total for a parliamentarian: those claims are attributed to the parliamentarian who made them and shown as their own category,
“Family or Nominee Travel”.
Method and data source
Quarterly claims are taken from IPEA’s open data on
data.gov.au (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia), current to the IPEA release of 11 Nov 2026.
Totals cover the four most recent reported quarters; the median and rank are calculated across all
sitting parliamentarians with claims in the same window. Earlier category names are matched to current ones.
Figures are compiled from IPEA data; IPEA is the authoritative source. Page generated 2026-11-12.
Political Gadgets’ compilation is licensed
CC BY-NC 4.0.
Frequently asked questions
Why four quarters instead of one?
Darren Chester’s four-quarter total of $660,577 (1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026) smooths out one-off quarters such as an election period or an overseas trip. The latest single quarter (Jul–Sep 2026) was $168,947, against an average of $165,144 a quarter across the window.
What is the median and how is it calculated?
The median is the middle four-quarter total when all 226 sitting parliamentarians are ranked: half claimed less than $704,511 and half more. Darren Chester’s total of $660,577 is $43,934 below the median of $704,511, which ranks 135th of 226.
Why do some parliamentarians claim much more than others?
IPEA says: “When comparing expenditure between parliamentarians, it is important to take into account the parliamentarian’s role, the size of their electorate, and their electorate’s distance from the closest capital city and Canberra.” Darren Chester’s largest category over the window was Office Administration ($270,002).
Is family and nominee travel included?
Yes. Claims for travel by family members or nominees are attributed to the parliamentarian who made them and counted in their total, as in IPEA’s own totals. For Darren Chester this came to $4,567 over the window.
Expenditure data is compiled by the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority (IPEA) and released under Creative Commons Licence (data.gov.au).
In all fairness there are some good reasons for variance in expenditure. The IPEA points out: "When comparing expenditure between parliamentarians, it is important to take into account the parliamentarian's role, the size of their electorate, and their electorate's distance from the closest capital city and Canberra. Further information on why some offices may have higher travel expenditure can be found on the IPEA website Background on Expenditure Reporting page."
Former members are not included in the totals, rankings or medians shown here.
