Sam Lim’s parliamentary expenses 2025–26: $626,958
(1 Jul 2025 – 30 Jun 2026)
Sam Lim claimed $626,958 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 123rd of 224 parliamentarians; the median is $647,706. Latest quarter (Apr–Jun 2026): $242,329. Largest categories: Office Administration ($258,789); Office Facilities ($171,074); Scheduled Commercial Transport ($84,241). 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.
Sam Lim's total in each category over the 2025–26 financial year, compared with the median of all sitting parliamentarians in that category.
Office Administration – Sam Lim, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Office Administration
$258,789
$221,473
$37,316 above the median of $221,473
Printing and Communications
$235,736
Office Consumables and Services
$22,467
Publications
$586
Office Facilities – Sam Lim, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Office Facilities
$171,074
$183,185
$12,111 below the median of $183,185
Office Facilities - Not stated
$171,074
Scheduled Commercial Transport – Sam Lim, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Scheduled Commercial Transport
$84,241
$43,715
$40,526 above the median of $43,715
Fares
$84,241
Employee Travel – Sam Lim, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Employee Travel
$73,437
$114,932
$41,495 below the median of $114,932
Domestic Travel
$73,437
Travel Allowance – Sam Lim, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Travel Allowance
$28,896
$31,310
$2,414 below the median of $31,310
Travel Allowance
$28,896
Other Car Costs – Sam Lim, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Other Car Costs
$7,323
$27,108
$19,785 below the median of $27,108
COMCAR
$7,806
Parking
$15
Private-Plated Vehicle
-$498
Telecommunications – Sam Lim, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Telecommunications
$2,973
$2,701
$272 above the median of $2,701
Telecommunications - Usage
$1,819
Telecommunications - Residential - Official
$1,154
Family or Nominee Travel – Sam Lim, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Family or Nominee Travel
$169
$3,367
$3,198 below the median of $3,367
COMCAR
$169
Unscheduled Commercial Transport – Sam Lim, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Unscheduled Commercial Transport
$57
$378
$321 below the median of $378
Parliamentary Duties
$57
Total across all periods: $2,636,188 (1 Apr 2022 – 30 Jun 2026, 17 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 – Sam Lim, all periods
Category
Amount
Office Administration
$1,144,027
Printing and Communications
$1,007,340
Office Consumables and Services
$134,112
Publications
$2,575
Office Facilities – Sam Lim, all periods
Category
Amount
Office Facilities
$624,567
Office Facilities - Not stated
$624,567
Employee Travel – Sam Lim, all periods
Category
Amount
Employee Travel
$285,793
Domestic Travel
$285,793
Scheduled Commercial Transport – Sam Lim, all periods
Category
Amount
Scheduled Commercial Transport
$282,257
Fares
$282,257
Travel Allowance – Sam Lim, all periods
Category
Amount
Travel Allowance
$106,114
Travel Allowance
$106,114
Other Car Costs – Sam Lim, all periods
Category
Amount
Other Car Costs
$88,966
Private-Plated Vehicle
$52,060
COMCAR
$36,788
Parking
$117
Family or Nominee Travel – Sam Lim, all periods
Category
Amount
Family or Nominee Travel
$49,387
Scheduled Commercial Transport
$48,346
COMCAR
$1,041
International Travel – Sam Lim, all periods
Category
Amount
International Travel
$36,195
Parliamentary Delegations
$24,491
Representing Australia
$11,704
Telecommunications – Sam Lim, all periods
Category
Amount
Telecommunications
$17,428
Telecommunications - Usage
$13,335
Telecommunications - Residential - Official
$4,093
Unscheduled Commercial Transport – Sam Lim, all periods
Category
Amount
Unscheduled Commercial Transport
$1,455
Parliamentary Duties
$1,455
What’s included in these figures
The total for Sam Lim is the sum of all expenses charged to Sam Lim’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?
Sam Lim’s four-quarter total of $626,958 (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 $242,329, against an average of $156,740 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. Sam Lim’s total of $626,958 is $20,748 below the median of $647,706, which ranks 123rd 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.” Sam Lim’s largest category over the window was Office Administration ($258,789).
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 Sam Lim this came to $169 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.
