The Labor Government spent twice as much taxpayer money to fly ministers around the Territory in the past financial year than it did over the same period in the lead-up to the 2020 election, newly released records show, while mysterious travel expenses costing tens of thousands of dollars listed only as “other” have been called into question.

The intrastate ministerial travel records over the first nine months of the last financial year – from July 1, 2023 to March 31, 2024 – show the government spent $366,858 flying ministers to events and meetings around the Northern Territory – including to attend the rural show circuit, “official” pool openings and footy grand finals.

The cost was double the $183,795 it charged taxpayers over the same period in 2019-20.

While ministerial travel is essential within the Northern Territory to meet with remote community leaders and government officials, the records show trips occurred where the majority of the cost to taxpayers – in one instance more than $10,000 – was mysteriously categorised under “other” expenses.

In some cases, the necessity of the trip has also been called into question and follows the Independent Commissioner Against Corruption’s recent investigation into Labor’s misuse of public funds for election campaign purposes during the official caretaker period ahead of the 2020 election. There is no restriction however on politicians using taxpayer funds for travel ahead of the caretaker period as part of their ministerial duties.

The newly released records show Paul Kirby, Lauren Moss, Nicole Manison and Natasha Fyles charged taxpayers a combined $10,558 to fly to the Alice Springs Show for three days last July, while Ms Fyles, Ms Moss, Kate Worden and current Chief Minister Eva Lawler charged taxpayers a combined $12,343 for charter flights to attend the Tennant Creek Show the same month.

Ms Lawler’s office did not respond to a question about whether taxpayers should be paying for these kinds of political trips, stating only that the nearly $25,000 cost “was [air]fares, accommodation and hire car costs”.

The government had arranged for a special Cabinet meeting to be held in Alice Springs at the same time as the show. The costs for the same five ministers to attend the Katherine show was a combined $2,494 because all drove to Katherine instead of flying in a charter, except then-chief minister Natasha Fyles who charged taxpayers $2,400 for a charter flight and one night’s accommodation to attend the Katherine show.

Meanwhile, on August 6, 2023, Sports Minister Kate Worden flew to the Tiwi Islands for the Grand Final, records show, at a cost of $6,250, however, $5,000 of that cost was listed as “other”, while $1,250 was listed as “airfare”.

On November 23, last year, then-chief minister Natasha Fyles took a charter flight to Wadeye for the “official opening” of the new pool in the community at a total cost of $5,500. The records show $786 was spent on her charter airfare while $4,714 was listed under “other”.

Two weeks after being sworn in as the NT’s Infrastructure Minister, Joel Bowden flew from Darwin to Wurrumiyanga on the Tiwi Islands for a one-day trip on November 17, 2023, to announce a new bridge on the island, listed as “media event and related stakeholder engagement”. The entire $4,421 cost of the trip was categorised under “other” and had no breakdown of airfare costs.

Chief Minister Eva Lawler’s office said all expenses claimed as “other” on the trips were for the full charter cost of the flights for everyone who attended the trip, despite those who attended not being named in the intrastate travel documents provided publicly.

That would include journalists and fifth-floor staffers. However, it was not fully explained why the airfare costs would be recorded under “other” and not under “airfare” on the records.

The Chief Minister’s office could not explain why Selena Uibo included expenditure of $10,333 under “other” for a three-day trip from Katherine to Darwin to Nhulunbuy to Darwin to Groote Eylandt and back to Katherine for a total cost of $12,771 in January, which also included $290 on accommodation, $948 for airfare and $1200 for “official allowance”.

While MLAs from outside Darwin are entitled to claim a $400 per day allowance while in Darwin on official business, the Chief Minister’s office said only that the $10,333 claimed under “other” expenses was “mostly charter cost”.

Ms Uibo’s office said the trip was in keeping with established processes and remuneration rules and that the $10,333 listed as “other” was entirely “related to travel costs, particularly on airfares [in] relation to the scheduled flights and charters to Nhulunbuy and Groote Eylandt”.

Ms Uibo said the trip to Nhulunbuy was to hold discussions with stakeholders related to her portfolios of remote housing, health, mental health and suicide prevention, while the trip to Groote Eylandt was to attend the first Community Court and Law and Justice Group in the NT, which was part of the government’s nine-year local decision making arrangement with the Anindilyakwa Land Council.

“Together with my ministerial colleagues, we utilise the most cost effective ways of travel, and fit in as much as possible to gain the most from these trips,” she said.

Ms Lawler’s office said the “other” category for expenses was set up to split costs in the government’s internal Travel Request Information Processing (TRIPS) system, however the majority of intrastate flights over the last four years included much smaller amounts under the “other” expenditure item.

“We are the Government for the entire Territory. Travelling to remote parts of the Territory is important,” Ms Lawler said.

“Costings from this financial year compared to financial year 2019-20 are different due to COVID and the inability to travel.”

However, travel restrictions to the NT’s 76 remote communities only came into effect on March 20, 2020, meaning all intrastate ministerial travel occurred as any normal year to the end of March reporting period.

The costs of the trips were released through annual reports to Parliament, which typically only includes the costs of flights for the financial year to the end of March.

Ms Lawler said she would publicly release the remaining three months of intrastate travel to the end of June this year, before the election in August. Ministerial travel costs for the month of July will not be released until after the election.

By comparison, the Opposition CLP charged taxpayers a combined $32,226 for intrastate travel for leader Lia Finocchiaro and her staff over the nine months to March 31, made up almost exclusively of travel to Alice Springs. The largest claim for “other” expenses was $169.

The Independent Commissioner Against Corruption spent three years investigating Labor’s misuse of public funds during the caretaker period in 2020 to fly then-chief minister Michael Gunner to remote communities in marginal electorates on polling days, but made no findings in his Operation Jupiter report tabled in Parliament in May. Michael Riches inexplicably blamed his lack of conclusions on the appropriateness of the travel on “intolerable ambiguities” in the rules, despite caretaker guidelines specifically stating ministers cannot use public funds for party political purposes and evidence Mr Gunner travelled to the communities specifically on polling days.

Ms Lawler has pledged not spend public money on travel for Labor’s re-election campaign during the caretaker period this year.

A second report into fifth floor staffers’ misuse of public resources was to be delivered to Ms Lawler by June 30, but was not provided on time, in part due to a conflict of interest acting commissioner Naomi Loudon has with the investigation that she refuses to publicly disclose.