James Paterson’s parliamentary expenses for the latest four reported quarters (1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026): $652,501
(1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026)
Position: Shadow Minister for Defence; member of the Shadow Cabinet
James Paterson is Shadow Minister for Defence; member of the Shadow Cabinet. James Paterson claimed $652,501 in parliamentary expenses over the latest four reported quarters (1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026), which smooths out one-off quarters. That ranks 139th of 226 parliamentarians; the median is $704,511. Latest quarter (Jul–Sep 2026): $182,926. Largest categories: Employee Travel ($194,179); Office Facilities ($171,597); Office Administration ($112,999). 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: Shadow minister (cabinet or outer)
9
$652,501
in line with this group's median of $652,501
State: VIC
12
$530,292
$122,209 above this group's median of $530,292
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.
James Paterson'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 – James Paterson, for the latest four reported quarters (1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026)
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Employee Travel
$194,179
$124,917
$69,262 above the median of $124,917
Domestic Travel
$194,179
Office Facilities – James Paterson, for the latest four reported quarters (1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026)
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Office Facilities
$171,597
$188,110
$16,513 below the median of $188,110
Office Facilities - Not stated
$171,597
Office Administration – James Paterson, for the latest four reported quarters (1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026)
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Office Administration
$112,999
$262,346
$149,347 below the median of $262,346
Printing and Communications
$83,568
Office Consumables and Services
$25,789
Publications
$3,641
Scheduled Commercial Transport – James Paterson, for the latest four reported quarters (1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026)
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Scheduled Commercial Transport
$59,203
$45,732
$13,471 above the median of $45,732
Fares
$59,203
Other Car Costs – James Paterson, for the latest four reported quarters (1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026)
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Other Car Costs
$47,890
$28,254
$19,636 above the median of $28,254
Private-Plated Vehicle
$32,804
COMCAR
$15,086
Travel Allowance – James Paterson, for the latest four reported quarters (1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026)
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Travel Allowance
$35,791
$34,320
$1,471 above the median of $34,320
Travel Allowance
$35,791
International Travel – James Paterson, for the latest four reported quarters (1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026)
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
International Travel
$20,620
$0
$20,620 above the median of $0
Official Visits
$20,620
Family or Nominee Travel – James Paterson, for the latest four reported quarters (1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026)
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Family or Nominee Travel
$7,130
$1,839
$5,291 above the median of $1,839
Scheduled Commercial Transport
$6,472
COMCAR
$658
Telecommunications – James Paterson, for the latest four reported quarters (1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026)
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Telecommunications
$3,093
$2,683
$410 above the median of $2,683
Telecommunications - Usage
$2,057
Telecommunications - Residential - Official
$1,036
Total across all periods: $3,837,792 (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 – James Paterson, all periods
Category
Amount
Office Facilities
$1,242,910
Office Facilities - Not stated
$1,242,910
Office Administration – James Paterson, all periods
Category
Amount
Office Administration
$836,718
Printing and Communications
$645,191
Office Consumables and Services
$115,470
Telephonic Services
$46,121
Publications
$29,936
Employee Travel – James Paterson, all periods
Category
Amount
Employee Travel
$832,600
Domestic Travel
$832,600
Other Car Costs – James Paterson, all periods
Category
Amount
Other Car Costs
$269,693
Private-Plated Vehicle
$184,341
COMCAR
$85,258
Parking
$94
Travel Allowance – James Paterson, all periods
Category
Amount
Travel Allowance
$253,598
Travel Allowance
$253,598
Scheduled Commercial Transport – James Paterson, all periods
Category
Amount
Scheduled Commercial Transport
$240,476
Fares
$240,476
Telecommunications – James Paterson, all periods
Category
Amount
Telecommunications
$56,068
Telecommunications - Usage
$47,818
Telecommunications - Residential - Official
$8,250
Family or Nominee Travel – James Paterson, all periods
Category
Amount
Family or Nominee Travel
$52,468
Scheduled Commercial Transport
$45,800
COMCAR
$6,668
International Travel – James Paterson, all periods
Category
Amount
International Travel
$52,374
Parliamentary Delegations
$24,329
Official Visits
$20,620
Representing Australia
$7,426
Unscheduled Commercial Transport – James Paterson, all periods
Category
Amount
Unscheduled Commercial Transport
$887
Official Duties
$493
Parliamentary Duties
$394
What’s included in these figures
The total for James Paterson is the sum of all expenses charged to James Paterson’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?
James Paterson’s four-quarter total of $652,501 (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 $182,926, against an average of $163,125 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. James Paterson’s total of $652,501 is $52,010 below the median of $704,511, which ranks 139th 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.” James Paterson’s largest category over the window was Employee Travel ($194,179).
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 James Paterson this came to $7,130 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.
