Richard Marles’s parliamentary expenses 2025–26: $1,844,249
(1 Jul 2025 – 30 Jun 2026)
Position: Deputy Prime Minister; Minister for Defence; member of Cabinet
Richard Marles is Deputy Prime Minister; Minister for Defence; member of Cabinet. Richard Marles claimed $1,844,249 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 5th of 224 parliamentarians; the median is $647,706. Latest quarter (Apr–Jun 2026): $534,696. Largest categories: Employee Travel ($1,070,174); Office Facilities ($296,759); International Travel ($272,712). 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.
Richard Marles's total in each category over the 2025–26 financial year, compared with the median of all sitting parliamentarians in that category.
Employee Travel – Richard Marles, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Employee Travel
$1,070,174
$114,932
$955,242 above the median of $114,932
Domestic Travel
$657,448
International Travel
$412,726
Office Facilities – Richard Marles, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Office Facilities
$296,759
$183,185
$113,574 above the median of $183,185
Office Facilities - Not stated
$296,759
International Travel – Richard Marles, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
International Travel
$272,712
$0
$272,712 above the median of $0
Ministerial Visits
$272,712
Scheduled Commercial Transport – Richard Marles, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Scheduled Commercial Transport
$82,409
$43,715
$38,694 above the median of $43,715
Fares
$82,409
Office Administration – Richard Marles, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Office Administration
$52,134
$221,473
$169,339 below the median of $221,473
Printing and Communications
$32,558
Office Consumables and Services
$18,990
Publications
$586
Other Car Costs – Richard Marles, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Other Car Costs
$37,194
$27,108
$10,086 above the median of $27,108
COMCAR
$25,186
Private-Plated Vehicle
$12,008
Travel Allowance – Richard Marles, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Travel Allowance
$29,321
$31,310
$1,989 below the median of $31,310
Travel Allowance
$29,321
Telecommunications – Richard Marles, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Telecommunications
$3,548
$2,701
$847 above the median of $2,701
Telecommunications - Usage
$3,548
Total across all periods: $8,631,302 (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.
Employee Travel – Richard Marles, all periods
Category
Amount
Employee Travel
$3,715,447
Domestic Travel
$2,931,670
International Travel
$783,777
Office Facilities – Richard Marles, all periods
Category
Amount
Office Facilities
$1,762,438
Office Facilities - Not stated
$1,762,438
Office Administration – Richard Marles, all periods
Category
Amount
Office Administration
$1,183,176
Printing and Communications
$1,019,624
Office Consumables and Services
$144,273
Publications
$19,279
International Travel – Richard Marles, all periods
Category
Amount
International Travel
$656,845
Ministerial Visits
$642,915
Official Visits
$9,035
Representing Australia
$4,914
Parliamentary Delegations
-$19
Scheduled Commercial Transport – Richard Marles, all periods
Category
Amount
Scheduled Commercial Transport
$505,977
Fares
$505,977
Other Car Costs – Richard Marles, all periods
Category
Amount
Other Car Costs
$504,162
COMCAR
$370,992
Private-Plated Vehicle
$133,058
Parking
$112
Travel Allowance – Richard Marles, all periods
Category
Amount
Travel Allowance
$218,171
Travel Allowance
$218,171
Telecommunications – Richard Marles, all periods
Category
Amount
Telecommunications
$55,920
Telecommunications - Usage
$50,872
Telecommunications - Residential - Official
$5,048
Family or Nominee Travel – Richard Marles, all periods
Category
Amount
Family or Nominee Travel
$18,200
Scheduled Commercial Transport
$16,386
COMCAR
$1,815
Unscheduled Commercial Transport – Richard Marles, all periods
Category
Amount
Unscheduled Commercial Transport
$10,966
Official Duties
$7,177
Parliamentary Duties
$3,789
What’s included in these figures
The total for Richard Marles is the sum of all expenses charged to Richard Marles’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?
Richard Marles’s four-quarter total of $1,844,249 (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 $534,696, against an average of $461,062 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. Richard Marles’s total of $1,844,249 is $1,196,543 above the median of $647,706, which ranks 5th 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.” Richard Marles’s largest category over the window was Employee Travel ($1,070,174).
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 Richard Marles 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.
