Tony Sheldon’s parliamentary expenses 2025–26: $651,697
(1 Jul 2025 – 30 Jun 2026)
Position: Chief Government Whip in the Senate
Tony Sheldon is Chief Government Whip in the Senate. Tony Sheldon claimed $651,697 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 112th of 224 parliamentarians; the median is $647,706. Latest quarter (Apr–Jun 2026): $227,592. Largest categories: Office Facilities ($287,311); Employee Travel ($204,973); Office Administration ($100,771). 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: Whip
10
$425,487
$226,210 above this group's median of $425,487
State: NSW
12
$584,453
$67,244 above this group's median of $584,453
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.
Tony Sheldon's total in each category over the 2025–26 financial year, compared with the median of all sitting parliamentarians in that category.
Office Facilities – Tony Sheldon, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Office Facilities
$287,311
$183,185
$104,126 above the median of $183,185
Office Facilities - Not stated
$287,311
Employee Travel – Tony Sheldon, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Employee Travel
$204,973
$114,932
$90,041 above the median of $114,932
Domestic Travel
$204,973
Office Administration – Tony Sheldon, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Office Administration
$100,771
$221,473
$120,702 below the median of $221,473
Printing and Communications
$81,446
Office Consumables and Services
$12,844
Publications
$6,480
Travel Allowance – Tony Sheldon, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Travel Allowance
$27,162
$31,310
$4,148 below the median of $31,310
Travel Allowance
$27,162
Scheduled Commercial Transport – Tony Sheldon, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Scheduled Commercial Transport
$22,352
$43,715
$21,363 below the median of $43,715
Fares
$22,352
Other Car Costs – Tony Sheldon, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Other Car Costs
$4,731
$27,108
$22,377 below the median of $27,108
COMCAR
$4,221
Private Vehicle Allowance
$510
Telecommunications – Tony Sheldon, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Telecommunications
$2,593
$2,701
$108 below the median of $2,701
Telecommunications - Usage
$1,979
Telecommunications - Residential - Official
$614
Unscheduled Commercial Transport – Tony Sheldon, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Unscheduled Commercial Transport
$1,804
$378
$1,426 above the median of $378
Parliamentary Duties
$1,711
Party Political Duties
$92
Total across all periods: $3,333,832 (1 Jul 2019 – 30 Jun 2026, 28 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 – Tony Sheldon, all periods
Category
Amount
Office Facilities
$1,424,458
Office Facilities - Not stated
$1,424,458
Employee Travel – Tony Sheldon, all periods
Category
Amount
Employee Travel
$742,484
Domestic Travel
$742,484
Office Administration – Tony Sheldon, all periods
Category
Amount
Office Administration
$662,546
Printing and Communications
$518,632
Office Consumables and Services
$82,278
Publications
$45,887
Telephonic Services
$15,750
Travel Allowance – Tony Sheldon, all periods
Category
Amount
Travel Allowance
$222,102
Travel Allowance
$220,670
Cancelled Accommodation
$1,432
Scheduled Commercial Transport – Tony Sheldon, all periods
Category
Amount
Scheduled Commercial Transport
$171,768
Fares
$171,768
Telecommunications – Tony Sheldon, all periods
Category
Amount
Telecommunications
$37,311
Telecommunications - Usage
$33,739
Telecommunications - Residential - Official
$3,572
Other Car Costs – Tony Sheldon, all periods
Category
Amount
Other Car Costs
$35,465
COMCAR
$22,071
Private Vehicle Allowance
$13,394
International Travel – Tony Sheldon, all periods
Category
Amount
International Travel
$25,327
Parliamentary Delegations
$17,558
Representing Australia
$7,769
Unscheduled Commercial Transport – Tony Sheldon, all periods
Category
Amount
Unscheduled Commercial Transport
$12,371
Parliamentary Duties
$11,774
Electorate Duties
$504
Party Political Duties
$92
What’s included in these figures
The total for Tony Sheldon is the sum of all expenses charged to Tony Sheldon’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?
Tony Sheldon’s four-quarter total of $651,697 (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 $227,592, against an average of $162,924 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. Tony Sheldon’s total of $651,697 is $3,991 above the median of $647,706, which ranks 112th 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.” Tony Sheldon’s largest category over the window was Office Facilities ($287,311).
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 Tony Sheldon 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.
