Anthony Albanese and Bill Shorten at Parliament House in Canberra. Source: News Limited
TAXPAYERS will fork out up to $200,000 to fly Labor MPs to Canberra so they can vote for a new parliamentary leader.
As the Opposition ramps up its attack on Tony Abbott over entitlements, News Corp can reveal the public will pay a high price for the ALP's bold leadership experiment.
And several Labor MPs have expressed disgust at the expense of flying around 80 Caucus members to the national capital - for two separate meetings within the space of a few days.
With some business class airfares costing around $5,000, Labor MPs will firstly fly to Canberra on Thursday where they will vote in a leadership ballot for Anthony Albanese or Bill Shorten.
They will then return to parliament on Sunday where the winner will be announced. Labor's new frontbench will then be elected by the Caucus on Monday.
ALP national secretary George Wright confirmed the Labor Party will not be footing the bill to fly MPs back to Canberra for the first time since the September 7 election.
Instead the public will pay for flights, Comcar and other expenses. Opposition MPs will also be entitled to claim $268 in travel allowance if they stay overnight, adding to the cost of Labor's leadership experiment.
Labor MP Graham Perrett confirmed he will complete the return trip from Brisbane on Thursday - and then return to the ACT on Sunday. He is suggesting a review of the voting process including the possible use of electronic voting for MPs to minimise the burden.
"I would hope every member of the Labor Party would be minimising the costs of democracy," he told News Corp.
"But democracy is not cheap. It's an official parliamentary meeting. This is the first time such things have happened and we'll be looking at the process."
A spokesman for acting Labor leader Chris Bowen said it was "not without precedent that following an election and ahead of the first parliamentary sitting, Opposition parties meet to elect a new leadership team".
Labor MPs flying from West Australia will cost around $5,000, including just over $4,000 for the price of a business class airfare. The cost is much cheaper - around $1,810 per person - for 23 NSW MPs while the expense of transporting 24 Victorians - including Mr Shorten - is just over $2,000 each.
It is expected that some Labor MPs will stay overnight in Canberra between Thursday and Sunday - minimising the public expense.
One Labor MP said the public had a right to feel "disgusted" at the costs of the leadership ballot.
Mr Perrett said he expected the party would examine the introduction of electronic voting.
"In this age of the internet, we may be able to work out some processes in cutting out travel to Canberra for these things," he said.
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