Sue Lines’s parliamentary expenses 2025–26: $987,851
(1 Jul 2025 – 30 Jun 2026)
Position: President of the Senate
Sue Lines is President of the Senate. Sue Lines claimed $987,851 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 39th of 224 parliamentarians; the median is $647,706. Latest quarter (Apr–Jun 2026): $224,657. Largest categories: Employee Travel ($417,596); Office Facilities ($272,182); Office Administration ($85,841). 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: Presiding officer
2
$802,779
$185,072 above this group's median of $802,779
State: WA
12
$602,465
$385,386 above this group's median of $602,465
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.
Sue Lines's total in each category over the 2025–26 financial year, compared with the median of all sitting parliamentarians in that category.
Employee Travel – Sue Lines, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Employee Travel
$417,596
$114,932
$302,664 above the median of $114,932
Domestic Travel
$318,647
International Travel
$98,949
Office Facilities – Sue Lines, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Office Facilities
$272,182
$183,185
$88,997 above the median of $183,185
Office Facilities - Not stated
$272,182
Office Administration – Sue Lines, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Office Administration
$85,841
$221,473
$135,632 below the median of $221,473
Printing and Communications
$55,419
Office Consumables and Services
$29,836
Publications
$586
International Travel – Sue Lines, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
International Travel
$78,670
$0
$78,670 above the median of $0
Official Visits
$78,670
Scheduled Commercial Transport – Sue Lines, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Scheduled Commercial Transport
$73,350
$43,715
$29,635 above the median of $43,715
Fares
$73,350
Travel Allowance – Sue Lines, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Travel Allowance
$37,056
$31,310
$5,746 above the median of $31,310
Travel Allowance
$37,056
Family or Nominee Travel – Sue Lines, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Family or Nominee Travel
$9,492
$3,367
$6,125 above the median of $3,367
Scheduled Commercial Transport
$9,492
Other Car Costs – Sue Lines, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Other Car Costs
$6,823
$27,108
$20,285 below the median of $27,108
COMCAR
$6,823
Telecommunications – Sue Lines, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Telecommunications
$4,136
$2,701
$1,435 above the median of $2,701
Telecommunications - Residential - Official
$2,380
Telecommunications - Usage
$1,757
Unscheduled Commercial Transport – Sue Lines, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Unscheduled Commercial Transport
$2,706
$378
$2,328 above the median of $378
Electorate Duties
$2,013
Parliamentary Duties
$693
Total across all periods: $5,446,088 (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 – Sue Lines, all periods
Category
Amount
Office Facilities
$1,810,667
Office Facilities - Not stated
$1,810,667
Employee Travel – Sue Lines, all periods
Category
Amount
Employee Travel
$1,581,520
Domestic Travel
$1,350,901
International Travel
$230,620
Office Administration – Sue Lines, all periods
Category
Amount
Office Administration
$735,731
Printing and Communications
$546,221
Office Consumables and Services
$157,032
Telephonic Services
$22,893
Publications
$9,584
Scheduled Commercial Transport – Sue Lines, all periods
Category
Amount
Scheduled Commercial Transport
$451,374
Fares
$451,374
International Travel – Sue Lines, all periods
Category
Amount
International Travel
$340,076
Official Visits
$303,849
Parliamentary Delegations
$28,304
Representing Australia
$7,923
Travel Allowance – Sue Lines, all periods
Category
Amount
Travel Allowance
$272,657
Travel Allowance
$271,335
Cancelled Accommodation
$1,322
Other Car Costs – Sue Lines, all periods
Category
Amount
Other Car Costs
$99,669
Private-Plated Vehicle
$52,066
COMCAR
$46,774
Parking
$620
Cabcharge / Other Car Costs
$209
Family or Nominee Travel – Sue Lines, all periods
Category
Amount
Family or Nominee Travel
$71,118
Scheduled Commercial Transport
$70,925
COMCAR
$194
Telecommunications – Sue Lines, all periods
Category
Amount
Telecommunications
$51,533
Telecommunications - Usage
$32,626
Telecommunications - Residential - Official
$18,907
Unscheduled Commercial Transport – Sue Lines, all periods
Category
Amount
Unscheduled Commercial Transport
$31,743
Parliamentary Duties
$17,179
Electorate Duties
$13,830
Electorate
$734
What’s included in these figures
The total for Sue Lines is the sum of all expenses charged to Sue Lines’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?
Sue Lines’s four-quarter total of $987,851 (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 $224,657, against an average of $246,963 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. Sue Lines’s total of $987,851 is $340,145 above the median of $647,706, which ranks 39th 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.” Sue Lines’s largest category over the window was Employee Travel ($417,596).
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 Sue Lines this came to $9,492 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.