EXCLUSIVE: Location, location! How embattled minister Bridget McKenzie used a taxpayer-funded trip to Melbourne to buy a $335,000 inner-city apartment - after revelations she took a private jet to watch ice hockey
- Bridget McKenzie bought Melbourne unit as she claimed $374 travel allowance
- Victorian senator also charged taxpayers $143 for Commonwealth car transport
- Future Nationals deputy stayed in Melbourne on August 13, 2014 for a hearing
- Next day, she bought one-bedroom, inner-city Elwood apartment for $335,000
- Spokesman confirmed agent gave her papers to sign after Melbourne hearing
Embattled federal cabinet minister Bridget McKenzie bought an inner-city Melbourne apartment as she claimed taxpayer-funded travel entitlements to attend parliamentary hearings.
Senator McKenzie, who is now Nationals deputy leader and Sports Minister, claimed $374 from the public purse on August 13, 2014 when she was still a backbencher.
A day after claiming travel allowance for overnight accommodation, she bought a one-bedroom unit at Elwood, in Melbourne's bayside south-east, for $335,000.
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Embattled minister Bridget McKenzie (pictured) bought an inner-city Melbourne apartment as she claimed taxpayer-funded travel entitlements to attend parliamentary hearings
Bridget McKenzie (left with boyfriend and New Zealand National MP David Bennett) bought the inner-city Elwood apartment as she claimed taxpayer-funded travel entitlements
Department of Finance records show the senator, who was then based at Bendigo in western Victoria, bought the Beach Avenue property on August 14, 2014.
Senator McKenzie had been in Melbourne on that day for a parliamentary committee hearing on recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in the constitution.
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The minister had participated in parliamentary committee hearings at Shepparton, in northern Victoria, on August 13, 2014 and again in Melbourne on August 14, 2014.
She charged taxpayers $374 to stay in Melbourne for the night of August 13, 2014.
Senator McKenzie claimed $374 from the public purse on August 13, 2014. A day after claiming travel allowance for overnight accommodation, she bought a Melbourne unit (pictured)
On that day, Senator McKenzie had also claimed another $143 from taxpayers for Commonwealth car transport, taking her total travel and accommodation bill in Melbourne to $517.
The minister's spokesman said she bought the Melbourne property on August 14, on the day she was in the Victorian capital attending a parliamentary hearing.
'Following conclusion of the hearing on Thursday, the property agent brought the relevant documents to the senator for signing,' he told Daily Mail Australia on Monday.
The Victorian senator, who is now Nationals deputy leader, bought the one-bedroom, inner-city apartment at Elwood (pictured) a day after claiming on overnight on taxpayers
CoreLogic records show she bought her investment unit on August 14, 2014 and it settled on September 12, 2014.
Sussan Ley was sacked as health minister in January 2017, by then prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, after it was revealed she had bought a $795,000 Gold Coast investment apartment in May 2015 on the very same day she had claimed $1,248 from taxpayers for overnight accommodation, along with airfares and Commonwealth car travel for ministerial duties.
Senator McKenzie didn't declare her new Melbourne investment apartment on her pecuniary interest register until November 2014, three months after buying the unit, which she still owns.
In October and December 2014, the senator charged taxpayers three lots of $377 for 'electorate business', adding up to $1,131, to stay in Melbourne even though she now owned an apartment in the Victorian capital.
Last week, Daily Mail Australia revealed Senator McKenzie as Sports Minister charged taxpayers $19,942 in May 2018 so she could fly direct from Rockampton, in central Queensland, to Melbourne to see an ice hockey game and meet with the Australian Sports Commission board.
Sussan Ley (pictured) was sacked as health minister in 2017 after revelations had bought a $795,000 Gold Coast apartment in May 2015 as she had claimed $1,248 in travel entitlements
Daily Mail Australia revealed Senator McKenzie charged taxpayers $19,942 in May 2018 so she could fly direct from Rockampton to Melbourne to see an ice hockey game
An equivalent commercial flight with Virgin Australia or Qantas from Rockhampton to Melbourne, with a stop-over in Brisbane, would have cost just $614 - or 32 times less than a chartered RAAF military jet.
Her spokesman said there were no commercial flights available.
A month earlier, in April 2018, Senator McKenzie charged taxpayers $13,955 to fly direct on a RAAF military plane from the Gold Coast to Cairns so she could meet Prince Charles on the sidelines of a Commonwealth Games basketball game.
A similar, non-stop, two-and-a-half hour Jetstar flight would have cost just $221, or 63 times less than the amount she charged taxpayers.
Her spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia in September the Sports Minister was representing the government and had been asked to host the Prince.
Department of Finance records show Senator McKenzie claimed $374 for overnight accommodation on August 13 for a forum on an indigenous constitutional recognition forum
Senator McKenzie, then a Nationals backbencher, also charged taxpayers $143 for Commonwealth car travel
The Victorian senator didn't declare her Melbourne apartment until November 2014 - three months after she had bought the unit at Elwood
