Annual budget for office expenses

You are provided with an annual budget for office expenses under s67 of the Parliamentary Business Resources Regulations 2017 (the Regulations) to claim the following types of office expenses:

• office stationery and supplies, minor office equipment
• additional telecommunications and ICT
• software and cloud-based services
• printing, production and distribution
• digital, communication and social media
• postal vote applications
• publications
• courier and freight costs
• postage meter charges and Australia Post charge accounts
• flags, nationhood materials and wreaths
• mobile office signage, facilities and equipment
• data products and data validation services
• media monitoring services
• AUSLAN interpreting services and closed captioning services.

Your PBR obligations including the dominant purpose and value for money tests apply to office expenses. In addition specific conditions apply, see office expenses – conditions^.

The Commonwealth is not liable to cover expenses where you contravene your obligations or use your office expenses for a restricted activity.

Office expenses budget for 2026-27

Certain items are not subject to the budget, including:

• approved items provided for work health and safety reasons (such as document holders or footrests)
• toilet paper, paper hand towels for bathroom use and hand-wash soap pumps where these items are not provided by the contracted property services provider or landlord
• some items provided by portfolio or parliamentary departments for Ministerial offices and Presiding Officer offices
• newspapers, office stationery and supplies provided by the parliamentary departments at Parliament House.

The budget is subject to annual indexation in line with the Consumer Price Index and is exclusive of GST. Any unused portion of your budget will not be carried forward to the following financial year. No financial limits apply to individual categories of office expenses other than broadcast radio which cannot exceed one-third of an eligible parliamentarian’s budget.

If you commenced your parliamentary term during a financial year, your budget is calculated on a pro rata basis.

Any expenditure over the limit of your budget is your personal responsibility, and any overpayment is recoverable as a debt to the Commonwealth. If you do not repay the overpayment within 28 days of the claim, a 25 per cent penalty loading may apply.

Your office expenses budget is debited from the date the goods are received or the services are rendered.

Keeping track of budgets

Budget reports are available in PEMS.

For more information about accessing budgets in PEMS, refer to View and manage budgets. 

Things that cannot be claimed

The following list includes examples of the types of expenses that are not claimable:

• communication or engagement strategy development
• social media consultancy and marketing services
• costs not directly associated with creating the content of the electronic material, for example, hair styling and makeup for video production
• professional networking website memberships
• venue hire for physical or face-to-face town hall meetings
• fundraising activities
• data products and data validation services that do not relate directly to communicating with your constituents
• livestreaming equipment and accessories for broadcasting on television
• material that includes barcodes, QR codes and/or links that refer or direct constituents to material that does not satisfy your PBR obligations, such as the specific conditions for claiming office expenses.

Conditions applying to office expenses

In addition to the parliamentary business and value for money tests, the Parliamentary Business Resources Regulations 2017 imposes specific conditions on the use of office expenses.

If you contravene a condition, you are unable to claim expenses for the item.

The conditions cover:

• broadcasting on television and radio
• purchasing stamps or stamped envelopes
• material that:
  • solicits a vote for another person
  • solicits (for a parliamentarian, political party or candidate) subscriptions, other financial support, or non-financial support (other than volunteering)
  • solicits applications for, or renewals of, membership in a political party
  • provides instructions on how to complete a ballot paper
  • includes an advertisement that pursues a commercial purpose for yourself or another person (you should be careful not to promote/advertise (or be seen to promote/advertise) for-profit businesses in any way. Any references to for-profit business should be incidental only).

For detailed information on these conditions, including examples, see 'conditions applying to office expenses (office expenses budget)’ . IPEA can provide advice on proposed non-travel related claims under the PBR Act to ensure you meet your obligations through an optional, pre-claim assessment.

Further information on the use of public resources for Elections and Referendums is available on the MaPS website.