Darren Chester’s parliamentary expenses 2025–26: $639,489
(1 Jul 2025 – 30 Jun 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 $639,489 in parliamentary expenses over the latest four reported quarters (1 Jul 2025 – 30 Jun 2026, the 2025–26 financial year), which smooths out one-off quarters. That ranks 117th of 224 parliamentarians; the median is $647,706. Latest quarter (Apr–Jun 2026): $187,472. Largest categories: Office Administration ($259,742); Office Facilities ($160,276); Employee Travel ($72,706). 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 224 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 2025–26 financial year, compared with the median of all sitting parliamentarians in that category.
Office Administration – Darren Chester, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Office Administration
$259,742
$221,473
$38,269 above the median of $221,473
Printing and Communications
$208,895
Office Consumables and Services
$48,034
Publications
$2,812
Office Facilities – Darren Chester, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Office Facilities
$160,276
$183,185
$22,909 below the median of $183,185
Office Facilities - Not stated
$160,276
Employee Travel – Darren Chester, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Employee Travel
$72,706
$114,932
$42,226 below the median of $114,932
Domestic Travel
$72,706
Other Car Costs – Darren Chester, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Other Car Costs
$63,325
$27,108
$36,217 above the median of $27,108
Private-Plated Vehicle
$37,757
COMCAR
$25,568
Travel Allowance – Darren Chester, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Travel Allowance
$46,822
$31,310
$15,512 above the median of $31,310
Travel Allowance
$46,822
Scheduled Commercial Transport – Darren Chester, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Scheduled Commercial Transport
$25,544
$43,715
$18,171 below the median of $43,715
Fares
$25,544
Telecommunications – Darren Chester, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Telecommunications
$6,282
$2,701
$3,581 above the median of $2,701
Telecommunications - Usage
$4,146
Telecommunications - Residential - Official
$2,136
Family or Nominee Travel – Darren Chester, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Family or Nominee Travel
$4,414
$3,367
$1,047 above the median of $3,367
Scheduled Commercial Transport
$4,347
COMCAR
$67
Unscheduled Commercial Transport – Darren Chester, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Unscheduled Commercial Transport
$379
$378
$1 above the median of $378
Parliamentary Duties
$379
Total across all periods: $6,088,910 (1 Jan 2018 – 30 Jun 2026, 34 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
$2,064,921
Printing and Communications
$1,670,551
Office Consumables and Services
$331,727
Publications
$43,077
Specified Public Resources
$19,566
Office Facilities – Darren Chester, all periods
Category
Amount
Office Facilities
$1,404,630
Office Facilities - Not stated
$1,404,630
Employee Travel – Darren Chester, all periods
Category
Amount
Employee Travel
$846,298
Domestic Travel
$757,280
International Travel
$89,018
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
Other Car Costs – Darren Chester, all periods
Category
Amount
Other Car Costs
$435,665
Private-Plated Vehicle
$248,446
COMCAR
$187,219
Travel Allowance – Darren Chester, all periods
Category
Amount
Travel Allowance
$376,408
Travel Allowance
$376,408
International Travel – Darren Chester, all periods
Category
Amount
International Travel
$236,348
Ministerial Visits
$148,342
Parliamentary Delegations
$88,006
Scheduled Commercial Transport – Darren Chester, all periods
Category
Amount
Scheduled Commercial Transport
$174,056
Fares
$174,056
Telecommunications – Darren Chester, all periods
Category
Amount
Telecommunications
$90,430
Telecommunications - Usage
$76,568
Telecommunications - Residential - Official
$13,862
Family or Nominee Travel – Darren Chester, all periods
Category
Amount
Family or Nominee Travel
$16,447
Scheduled Commercial Transport
$14,856
COMCAR
$1,591
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 2025–26 financial year: 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 2 Sep 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 2026-10-23.
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 $639,489 (1 Jul 2025 – 30 Jun 2026) smooths out one-off quarters such as an election period or an overseas trip. The latest single quarter (Apr–Jun 2026) was $187,472, against an average of $159,872 a quarter across the window.
What is the median and how is it calculated?
The median is the middle four-quarter total when all 224 sitting parliamentarians are ranked: half claimed less than $647,706 and half more. Darren Chester’s total of $639,489 is $8,217 below the median of $647,706, which ranks 117th of 224.
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 ($259,742).
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 $4,414 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.
