Sarah Henderson’s parliamentary expenses 2025–26: $454,901
(1 Jul 2025 – 30 Jun 2026)
Position: Shadow Minister for Communications and Digital Safety; member of the Shadow Cabinet
Sarah Henderson is Shadow Minister for Communications and Digital Safety; member of the Shadow Cabinet. Sarah Henderson claimed $454,901 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 198th of 224 parliamentarians; the median is $647,706. Latest quarter (Apr–Jun 2026): $124,323. Largest categories: Office Facilities ($179,865); Employee Travel ($66,558); Office Administration ($56,760). 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.
Comparisons to similar groups
Cluster
Members
Cluster median (last 4 quarters)
This total vs the median
Position: Shadow minister (cabinet or outer)
9
$586,683
$131,782 below this group's median of $586,683
State: VIC
12
$467,558
$12,657 below this group's median of $467,558
Senators are grouped by state or territory and by the highest office they hold (minister, assistant minister, presiding officer, opposition leadership, shadow minister, shadow assistant minister, party leadership, whip, or backbencher); 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. Ministry and shadow-ministry roles are from the Parliamentary Handbook.
Sarah Henderson's total in each category over the 2025–26 financial year, compared with the median of all sitting parliamentarians in that category.
Office Facilities – Sarah Henderson, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Office Facilities
$179,865
$183,185
$3,320 below the median of $183,185
Office Facilities - Not stated
$179,865
Employee Travel – Sarah Henderson, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Employee Travel
$66,558
$114,932
$48,374 below the median of $114,932
Domestic Travel
$66,558
Office Administration – Sarah Henderson, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Office Administration
$56,760
$221,473
$164,713 below the median of $221,473
Printing and Communications
$37,577
Office Consumables and Services
$14,894
Publications
$4,289
Scheduled Commercial Transport – Sarah Henderson, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Scheduled Commercial Transport
$53,607
$43,715
$9,892 above the median of $43,715
Fares
$53,607
Other Car Costs – Sarah Henderson, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Other Car Costs
$49,362
$27,108
$22,254 above the median of $27,108
Private-Plated Vehicle
$32,361
Parking
$10,557
COMCAR
$6,444
Travel Allowance – Sarah Henderson, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Travel Allowance
$45,395
$31,310
$14,085 above the median of $31,310
Travel Allowance
$45,395
Telecommunications – Sarah Henderson, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Telecommunications
$3,301
$2,701
$600 above the median of $2,701
Telecommunications - Usage
$1,825
Telecommunications - Residential - Official
$1,476
Unscheduled Commercial Transport – Sarah Henderson, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Unscheduled Commercial Transport
$52
$378
$326 below the median of $378
Official Duties
$39
Parliamentary Duties
$13
Total across all periods: $3,907,917 (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 Facilities – Sarah Henderson, all periods
Category
Amount
Office Facilities
$1,320,539
Office Facilities - Not stated
$1,320,539
Office Administration – Sarah Henderson, all periods
Category
Amount
Office Administration
$1,030,713
Printing and Communications
$877,257
Office Consumables and Services
$117,478
Publications
$22,407
Telephonic Services
$12,936
Specified Public Resources
$635
Employee Travel – Sarah Henderson, all periods
Category
Amount
Employee Travel
$646,129
Domestic Travel
$646,129
Scheduled Commercial Transport – Sarah Henderson, all periods
Category
Amount
Scheduled Commercial Transport
$341,915
Fares
$341,915
Other Car Costs – Sarah Henderson, all periods
Category
Amount
Other Car Costs
$280,203
Private-Plated Vehicle
$182,449
COMCAR
$60,849
Parking
$36,826
Cabcharge / Other Car Costs
$79
Travel Allowance – Sarah Henderson, all periods
Category
Amount
Travel Allowance
$219,546
Travel Allowance
$219,273
Cancelled Accommodation
$273
Telecommunications – Sarah Henderson, all periods
Category
Amount
Telecommunications
$58,794
Telecommunications - Usage
$48,830
Telecommunications - Residential - Official
$9,964
Family or Nominee Travel – Sarah Henderson, all periods
Category
Amount
Family or Nominee Travel
$6,343
Scheduled Commercial Transport
$6,343
Unscheduled Commercial Transport – Sarah Henderson, all periods
Category
Amount
Unscheduled Commercial Transport
$3,735
Parliamentary Duties
$2,751
Official Duties
$984
What’s included in these figures
The total for Sarah Henderson is the sum of all expenses charged to Sarah Henderson’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?
Sarah Henderson’s four-quarter total of $454,901 (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 $124,323, against an average of $113,725 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. Sarah Henderson’s total of $454,901 is $192,805 below the median of $647,706, which ranks 198th 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.” Sarah Henderson’s largest category over the window was Office Facilities ($179,865).
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 Sarah Henderson this came to $0 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.
