Position: Minister for Early Childhood Education; Minister for Youth
Jess Walsh is Minister for Early Childhood Education; Minister for Youth. Jess Walsh claimed $819,244 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 52nd of 224 parliamentarians; the median is $647,706. Latest quarter (Apr–Jun 2026): $206,418. Largest categories: Employee Travel ($394,121); Office Facilities ($248,218); Scheduled Commercial Transport ($81,446). 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: Minister (cabinet or outer ministry)
8
$1,365,453
$546,209 below this group's median of $1,365,453
State: VIC
12
$467,558
$351,686 above this group's median of $467,558
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.
Jess Walsh's total in each category over the 2025–26 financial year, compared with the median of all sitting parliamentarians in that category.
Employee Travel – Jess Walsh, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Employee Travel
$394,121
$114,932
$279,189 above the median of $114,932
Domestic Travel
$394,121
Office Facilities – Jess Walsh, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Office Facilities
$248,218
$183,185
$65,033 above the median of $183,185
Office Facilities - Not stated
$248,218
Scheduled Commercial Transport – Jess Walsh, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Scheduled Commercial Transport
$81,446
$43,715
$37,731 above the median of $43,715
Fares
$81,446
Other Car Costs – Jess Walsh, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Other Car Costs
$35,739
$27,108
$8,631 above the median of $27,108
COMCAR
$22,666
Private-Plated Vehicle
$13,073
Travel Allowance – Jess Walsh, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Travel Allowance
$35,305
$31,310
$3,995 above the median of $31,310
Travel Allowance
$35,096
Cancelled Accommodation
$209
Office Administration – Jess Walsh, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Office Administration
$22,549
$221,473
$198,924 below the median of $221,473
Office Consumables and Services
$11,624
Printing and Communications
$9,049
Publications
$1,876
Telecommunications – Jess Walsh, 2025–26
Category
Amount
Median
Difference
Telecommunications
$1,867
$2,701
$834 below the median of $2,701
Telecommunications - Usage
$1,867
Total across all periods: $2,555,617 (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 – Jess Walsh, all periods
Category
Amount
Office Facilities
$878,020
Office Facilities - Not stated
$878,020
Employee Travel – Jess Walsh, all periods
Category
Amount
Employee Travel
$683,952
Domestic Travel
$683,952
Office Administration – Jess Walsh, all periods
Category
Amount
Office Administration
$502,632
Printing and Communications
$400,619
Office Consumables and Services
$81,711
Publications
$14,558
Telephonic Services
$5,744
Scheduled Commercial Transport – Jess Walsh, all periods
Category
Amount
Scheduled Commercial Transport
$182,995
Fares
$182,995
Travel Allowance – Jess Walsh, all periods
Category
Amount
Travel Allowance
$164,900
Travel Allowance
$164,136
Cancelled Accommodation
$764
Other Car Costs – Jess Walsh, all periods
Category
Amount
Other Car Costs
$106,332
COMCAR
$58,222
Private-Plated Vehicle
$47,223
Private Vehicle Allowance
$887
Telecommunications – Jess Walsh, all periods
Category
Amount
Telecommunications
$27,622
Telecommunications - Usage
$27,622
International Travel – Jess Walsh, all periods
Category
Amount
International Travel
$8,904
Parliamentary Delegations
$8,904
Unscheduled Commercial Transport – Jess Walsh, all periods
Category
Amount
Unscheduled Commercial Transport
$262
Parliamentary Duties
$262
What’s included in these figures
The total for Jess Walsh is the sum of all expenses charged to Jess Walsh’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?
Jess Walsh’s four-quarter total of $819,244 (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 $206,418, against an average of $204,811 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. Jess Walsh’s total of $819,244 is $171,538 above the median of $647,706, which ranks 52nd 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.” Jess Walsh’s largest category over the window was Employee Travel ($394,121).
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 Jess Walsh 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.
