Sue Lines’s parliamentary expenses for the latest four reported quarters (1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026): $1,027,612
(1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026)
Position: President of the Senate
Sue Lines is President of the Senate. Sue Lines claimed $1,027,612 in parliamentary expenses over the latest four reported quarters (1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026), which smooths out one-off quarters. That ranks 39th of 226 parliamentarians; the median is $704,511. Latest quarter (Jul–Sep 2026): $266,370. Largest categories: Employee Travel ($456,916); Office Facilities ($282,226); International Travel ($88,919). 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.
Comparisons to similar groups
Cluster
Members
Cluster median (last 4 quarters)
This total vs the median
Position: Presiding officer
2
$836,081
$191,531 above this group's median of $836,081
State: WA
12
$641,649
$385,963 above this group's median of $641,649
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 latest four reported quarters (1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026), compared with the median of all sitting parliamentarians in that category.
Employee Travel – Sue Lines, for the latest four reported quarters (1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026)
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Employee Travel
$456,916
$124,917
$331,999 above the median of $124,917
Domestic Travel
$361,983
International Travel
$94,933
Office Facilities – Sue Lines, for the latest four reported quarters (1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026)
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Office Facilities
$282,226
$188,110
$94,116 above the median of $188,110
Office Facilities - Not stated
$282,226
International Travel – Sue Lines, for the latest four reported quarters (1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026)
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
International Travel
$88,919
$0
$88,919 above the median of $0
Official Visits
$88,919
Office Administration – Sue Lines, for the latest four reported quarters (1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026)
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Office Administration
$74,115
$262,346
$188,231 below the median of $262,346
Printing and Communications
$46,178
Office Consumables and Services
$27,357
Publications
$581
Scheduled Commercial Transport – Sue Lines, for the latest four reported quarters (1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026)
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Scheduled Commercial Transport
$63,639
$45,732
$17,907 above the median of $45,732
Fares
$63,639
Travel Allowance – Sue Lines, for the latest four reported quarters (1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026)
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Travel Allowance
$38,636
$34,320
$4,316 above the median of $34,320
Travel Allowance
$38,636
Family or Nominee Travel – Sue Lines, for the latest four reported quarters (1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026)
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Family or Nominee Travel
$8,541
$1,839
$6,702 above the median of $1,839
Scheduled Commercial Transport
$8,541
Other Car Costs – Sue Lines, for the latest four reported quarters (1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026)
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Other Car Costs
$6,272
$28,254
$21,982 below the median of $28,254
COMCAR
$6,272
Telecommunications – Sue Lines, for the latest four reported quarters (1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026)
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Telecommunications
$4,233
$2,683
$1,550 above the median of $2,683
Telecommunications - Residential - Official
$2,599
Telecommunications - Usage
$1,634
Unscheduled Commercial Transport – Sue Lines, for the latest four reported quarters (1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026)
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Unscheduled Commercial Transport
$4,113
$340
$3,773 above the median of $340
Parliamentary Duties
$2,307
Electorate Duties
$1,806
Total across all periods: $5,712,457 (1 Jan 2018 – 30 Sep 2026, 35 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
$1,882,466
Office Facilities - Not stated
$1,882,466
Employee Travel – Sue Lines, all periods
Category
Amount
Employee Travel
$1,688,567
Domestic Travel
$1,457,880
International Travel
$230,687
Office Administration – Sue Lines, all periods
Category
Amount
Office Administration
$777,276
Printing and Communications
$581,938
Office Consumables and Services
$162,280
Telephonic Services
$22,893
Publications
$10,165
Scheduled Commercial Transport – Sue Lines, all periods
Category
Amount
Scheduled Commercial Transport
$464,137
Fares
$464,137
International Travel – Sue Lines, all periods
Category
Amount
International Travel
$351,826
Official Visits
$315,599
Parliamentary Delegations
$28,304
Representing Australia
$7,923
Travel Allowance – Sue Lines, all periods
Category
Amount
Travel Allowance
$286,581
Travel Allowance
$285,259
Cancelled Accommodation
$1,322
Other Car Costs – Sue Lines, all periods
Category
Amount
Other Car Costs
$100,738
Private-Plated Vehicle
$52,066
COMCAR
$47,843
Parking
$620
Cabcharge / Other Car Costs
$209
Family or Nominee Travel – Sue Lines, all periods
Category
Amount
Family or Nominee Travel
$74,892
Scheduled Commercial Transport
$74,699
COMCAR
$194
Telecommunications – Sue Lines, all periods
Category
Amount
Telecommunications
$52,618
Telecommunications - Usage
$32,960
Telecommunications - Residential - Official
$19,657
Unscheduled Commercial Transport – Sue Lines, all periods
Category
Amount
Unscheduled Commercial Transport
$33,357
Parliamentary Duties
$18,793
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 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?
Sue Lines’s four-quarter total of $1,027,612 (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 $266,370, against an average of $256,903 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. Sue Lines’s total of $1,027,612 is $323,101 above the median of $704,511, which ranks 39th 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.” Sue Lines’s largest category over the window was Employee Travel ($456,916).
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 $8,541 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.