Sam Lim’s parliamentary expenses for the latest four reported quarters (1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026): $703,761
(1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026)
Sam Lim claimed $703,761 in parliamentary expenses over the latest four reported quarters (1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026), which smooths out one-off quarters. That ranks 115th of 226 parliamentarians; the median is $704,511. Latest quarter (Jul–Sep 2026): $203,412. Largest categories: Office Administration ($313,498); Office Facilities ($186,418); Employee Travel ($81,886). 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.
Sam Lim'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 – Sam Lim, for the latest four reported quarters (1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026)
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Office Administration
$313,498
$262,346
$51,152 above the median of $262,346
Printing and Communications
$284,619
Office Consumables and Services
$28,297
Publications
$581
Office Facilities – Sam Lim, for the latest four reported quarters (1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026)
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Office Facilities
$186,418
$188,110
$1,692 below the median of $188,110
Office Facilities - Not stated
$186,418
Employee Travel – Sam Lim, for the latest four reported quarters (1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026)
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Employee Travel
$81,886
$124,917
$43,031 below the median of $124,917
Domestic Travel
$81,886
Scheduled Commercial Transport – Sam Lim, for the latest four reported quarters (1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026)
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Scheduled Commercial Transport
$76,792
$45,732
$31,060 above the median of $45,732
Fares
$76,792
Travel Allowance – Sam Lim, for the latest four reported quarters (1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026)
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Travel Allowance
$33,282
$34,320
$1,038 below the median of $34,320
Travel Allowance
$33,282
Family or Nominee Travel – Sam Lim, for the latest four reported quarters (1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026)
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Family or Nominee Travel
$5,019
$1,839
$3,180 above the median of $1,839
Scheduled Commercial Transport
$4,681
COMCAR
$338
Telecommunications – Sam Lim, for the latest four reported quarters (1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026)
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Telecommunications
$3,628
$2,683
$945 above the median of $2,683
Telecommunications - Usage
$2,470
Telecommunications - Residential - Official
$1,158
Other Car Costs – Sam Lim, for the latest four reported quarters (1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026)
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Other Car Costs
$2,173
$28,254
$26,081 below the median of $28,254
COMCAR
$8,252
Parking
$8
Private-Plated Vehicle
-$6,087
International Travel – Sam Lim, for the latest four reported quarters (1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026)
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
International Travel
$1,065
$0
$1,065 above the median of $0
Parliamentary Delegations
$1,065
Total across all periods: $2,839,600 (1 Apr 2022 – 30 Sep 2026, 18 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
$1,228,037
Printing and Communications
$1,081,358
Office Consumables and Services
$143,523
Publications
$3,156
Office Facilities – Sam Lim, all periods
Category
Amount
Office Facilities
$684,483
Office Facilities - Not stated
$684,483
Employee Travel – Sam Lim, all periods
Category
Amount
Employee Travel
$310,358
Domestic Travel
$310,358
Scheduled Commercial Transport – Sam Lim, all periods
Category
Amount
Scheduled Commercial Transport
$296,580
Fares
$296,580
Travel Allowance – Sam Lim, all periods
Category
Amount
Travel Allowance
$117,178
Travel Allowance
$117,178
Other Car Costs – Sam Lim, all periods
Category
Amount
Other Car Costs
$91,293
Private-Plated Vehicle
$52,060
COMCAR
$39,108
Parking
$125
Family or Nominee Travel – Sam Lim, all periods
Category
Amount
Family or Nominee Travel
$54,237
Scheduled Commercial Transport
$53,027
COMCAR
$1,210
International Travel – Sam Lim, all periods
Category
Amount
International Travel
$37,260
Parliamentary Delegations
$25,555
Representing Australia
$11,704
Telecommunications – Sam Lim, all periods
Category
Amount
Telecommunications
$18,719
Telecommunications - Usage
$14,396
Telecommunications - Residential - Official
$4,324
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 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?
Sam Lim’s four-quarter total of $703,761 (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 $203,412, against an average of $175,940 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. Sam Lim’s total of $703,761 is $750 below the median of $704,511, which ranks 115th 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.” Sam Lim’s largest category over the window was Office Administration ($313,498).
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 $5,019 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.