A controversial parliamentary perk that lets politicians charge the taxpayer to fly their spouses and children around the country in business class could be next on the Turnbull government's chopping block.
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While the change is not part of the government's first tranche of entitlement reforms, Fairfax Media understands cabinet has discussed whether the interstate family reunion allowance should be axed like the Life Gold Pass.
It is understood Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has questioned the need for the allowance - which gives MPs three business-class return fares for their family a year - even though a major review of the expenses system recommended keeping it.
While the government has no intention of scrapping family travel entitlements to and from Canberra, there is a view among a number of senior Coalition figures the interstate allowance is out of step with community expectations - and leaves the government exposed to more potentially damaging scandals.
The allowance provoked public anger in 2015 when it was revealed Labor frontbencher Tony Burke used it to charge $12,000 to fly his family to Uluru in business class. He acknowledged the 2012 trip - taken when he was environment minister - was beyond community expectations but he did not offer to refund taxpayers.
Government frontbencher Christopher Pyne also came under fire for charging $5000 in travel expenses for a 2010 family trip from Adelaide to Sydney for the week between Christmas and New Year's Eve. He argued a private one-on-one meeting with Tony Abbott was his justification for the trip.
Last month, it emerged Greg Hunt, now health minister, repeatedly used his allowance to fly his family to the Queensland resort city of Noosa, costing more than $20,000.
The entitlements review conducted by public servants David Tune and John Conde in the wake of the Bronwyn Bishop "choppergate" scandal considered abolishing family reunion provisions, saying they "no longer appear commensurate with reasonable private and public-sector employment practices".
"Even when used within entitlement, the interstate family reunion travel provisions are an ongoing source of controversy because a particular trip can readily be portrayed, fairly or unfairly, as a fully-funded family holiday at a luxury or exotic destination," the review found.
But the review ultimately decided scrapping the provisions would be "too blunt" given the impact of parliamentary duty on families.
It said the Remuneration Tribunal should review and limit the provision so they could only be used to spend time with family while "undertaking legitimate - not contrived - parliamentary business".
The government plans to implement the Tune-Conde recommendations in the coming months but will then consider going even further.
The cabinet discussions on entitlements took place last year, before the Sussan Ley travel rorts controversy erupted. Interstate family reunions came up as part of general talks, rather than as a formal proposal or submission.
The government will move this week to set up a new independent authority to oversee parliamentary expenses, first announced by Mr Turnbull after his health minister resigned in January.
It will also move to have the notorious Life Gold Pass - which gives former MPs free business-class travel on the taxpayer - scrapped immediately rather than gradually phased out.
It's all part of the biggest shake-up of the entitlements system in two decades, designed to restore public trust in the system.
