‘Member for Manila’ George Christensen is forced to pay back more than $2,100 for taxpayer-funded flights and cars on international trips
- The Nationals MP used taxpayer money to fund a personal trip to the Philippines
- Mr Christensen has payed back $2,252.26 after a parliamentary expenses audit
- He spent a total of 294 days in the southeast Asian nation from 2014 and 2018
Nationals MP George Christensen has paid back more than $2,100 for taxpayer-funded flights and cars linked to trips to the Philippines.
The Member for Dawson, 41, was forced to pay back funds after an Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority (IPEA) audit of his domestic travel found he breached the rules.
Mr Christensen used taxpayer funds on a luxury chauffeur to Canberra Airport and a connecting flight from the Australian capital to Sydney in March, 2018.
Once in Sydney, he boarded an international flight to the Philippines to meet his wife April Asuncion, who was his fiancée at the time.
Nationals MP George Christensen has payed back more than $2,100 for taxpayer-funded flights and cars linked to international trips to the Philippines. Mr Christensen is pictured with his wife April Asuncion
The IPEA audit discovered Mr Christensen had breached the rules and forced him to pay back $327.28, including a 25 per cent penalty for misusing entitlements.
During the audit, Mr Christensen voluntarily repaid $1,843.16 for a number of domestic airfares and luxury cars funded by the public purse.
Combining the IPEA audit fine and voluntary repayment, the Queensland MP has paid back $2,170.44 in total.
The Mackay-based MP was dubbed the ‘Member for Manila’ after it was revealed that he spent 294 days in the Philippines between 2014 and 2018.
Mr Christensen met his wife through mutual friends at the beginning of 2017 while he was on holidays in the Philippines.
The pair started dating and after 18 months, Mr Christenen proposed to her over the phone.
Last year Mr Christensen married Ms Asuncion at a ceremony at his parents’ house near Mackay in Queensland.
The wedding was brought forward due to his mother Margaret’s terminal cancer diagnosis.
She tragically died just a day after the couple exchanged their vows.
An Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority (IPEA) audit revealed Mr Christensen used taxpayer funds on a luxury chauffeur to Canberra Airport and a connecting flight from the Australian capital to Sydney in March, 2018