4.3 Expenditure that is not allowable

Any expenditure that is not allowable is considered private expenditure and is not to be charged as an expense of the Office of the Minister or departments within the Minister’s portfolio. However, some private expenditure may be claimable as “Parliamentary business” under the Members’ Remuneration Handbook. Private expenditure includes:

• personal expenditure;
• clothing;
• personal household articles;
• partner’s wardrobe;
• hairdressing;
• dvd hire (in-house movies);
• club membership, except for airline memberships (Ministers only);
• laundry and dry cleaning costs except costs associated with the Minister’s office (eg. tea towels, tablecloths etc) and costs incurred by the Minister and staff whilst travelling on official business;
• personal presentations including cards or presentations to any Ministerial or government employee whether employed on a permanent, temporary, casual, consultancy or any other basis (see Cards and wreaths Section 4.14.1 for allowable expenditure on these items by the Minister as part of official duties);
• any costs incurred for or by a political party, including entry fees to political party functions, travel or entertainment costs by unelected political party members (see 4.10 Political Party Expenses);
• tipping, except for overseas travel; and
• donations (including donations to political parties). (see Gifts Section 3.8 for donations of official gifts)

Procedures

If non-allowable expenditure has already been processed, Ministerial Services will raise a debit note to the person who incurred the expenditure. The person has thirty (30) days from the date of this invoice to either dispute the charge, pay the debit note or arrange a repayment schedule with Ministerial Services.