Concerned politicians claim new travel rules will isolate WA MPs from families amid ‘lonely’ Canberra life

Politicians from Western Australia are privately criticising new taxpayer funded travel restrictions for federal parliamentarians, while a senior Cabinet minister declares “family reunion” flights are vital to help cope with the “lonely life” in Canberra. Just before Christmas, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese revealed a proposed overhaul of travel entitlements for MPs designed to address community concerns over a damaging expenses scandal. Under the changes federal politicians would no longer be able to fly their family members business class and taxpayer-funded trips outside of Canberra will mostly be cut off. MPs from both sides of the political divide have told The West Australian there is concern among federal representatives who must travel the furthest to complete their parliamentary or ministerial duties. “These latest changes without any consideration of distance travelled or time those from WA spend away will only isolate WA members more from their families,” one Labor figure says. A Liberal MP also acknowledged the toll of working in Canberra was “particularly hard” for government ministers, but told The West there was no public sympathy for politicians complaining about it. Resources Minister Madeleine King said she didn’t have any concerns with Labor’s proposed changes but pointed out politicians from WA and the Northern Territory spent “much more time away from home”. “It’s a privilege to serve as always, but it can be difficult,” Minister King told reporters while speaking at an event in her electorate of Rockingham. “I think family reunion travel is vital. I really do. I think sometimes — families aren’t all the same as well. My family is certainly not traditional.” “There’s a notion about dependency that, you know, you have dependent children. But in my personal opinion, sometimes MPs just have - you know, we depend on our families rather than they depend on us to get us through.” “It is quite a lonely life in Canberra, so I think family reunion travel is important, and we all acknowledge its important,” she added. Fellow West Australian frontbencher Josh Wilson has also backed the Prime Minister’s proposed changes, but argued reasonable support for family travel was a good thing because it supported “greater diversity of participation” in Parliament. “We’re starting to see the Australian Parliament look like the Australian community, and that’s good and some reasonable family support, I think, does enable that,” the Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy said. Mr Wilson also argued that politicians from the West were often unfairly highlighted in the media for spending the most on travel, when it was unavoidable that airfares from Perth to Canberra were higher than travelling from Sydney. “Most people are smart enough to understand and to respect that the travel burden for some parts of the country, whether it’s WA or probably Tasmania or far north Queensland, is really quite considerable,” he added.