Insane amount Anthony Albanese spent during his first weeks as PM after PM is revealed – days after enjoying $500 wine on holiday

Anthony Albanese claimed a whopping $684,665 in spending shortly after Labor came to power in 2022, new federal data showed on Wednesday.

The revelation comes days after the Prime Minister came under fire for enjoying a $500 bottle of wine while on holiday.

From July to September 2022, Albanese spent the majority of his parliamentary budget, about $512,232, on employee travel, earning him the nickname “Airbus Albo.”

That was $147,760 more than Liberal Prime Minister Scott Morrison made during the same financial period in 2021.

Reports from the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority revealed new details about the federal parliament's spending behavior following Labour's election victory last May, with most of the money doled out on employee travel and office facilities.

Mr Albanese spent a total of $82,729 on international travel during the third financial quarter of last year.

However, that expenditure was about $2,700 less than Mr Morrison spent in the same period a year earlier.

Mr Morrison spent $113,457 on office administration costs in 2021, about $83,000 more than Mr Albanese in 2022, when he spent about $30,430 on his office.

After the Prime Minister, House of Representatives Leader Tony Burke received the highest three-month bill, with a total of $398,410 spent in the third financial quarter.

Mr Burke jumped to his boss's defense on Monday after Mr Albanese and his partner Jodie Haydon flew to Western Australia last week for a romantic getaway, where they visited several wineries in the famed Margaret River region.

One of their stops was Cullen Wines for an “exclusive tasting,” which included tasting the 2017 Cullen Vanya Flower Day Cabernet Sauvignon, which retails for $500 a bottle.

WA Liberal Senator Michaelia Cash asked if the Prime Minister had lost touch with ordinary Australians.

But Burke characterized the outrage as a beating. “I have to say I'm surprised this is even a story,” he said.

“An Australian Prime Minister goes on holiday to Australia, supports small Australian businesses and is good for him.

“I know there have been some newspaper articles and the idea is that Michaelia Cash is representing the small businesses that are kind of accused of outrage.

“I think most people, especially at this time of year, feel that if someone takes a few days off, that's fine, and if they do that by supporting small Australian businesses, then good for them .'

National MP Barnaby Joyce joked that at least Albanese was in the country when referring to former coalition Prime Minister Scott Morrison's infamous family holiday to Hawaii during the 2019 Black Summer bushfires.

“I'm very happy he's in Australia, I'm happy he's here,” the New England MP said.

“But look, no bottle of wine is worth $500. How do people think that something that goes down your esophagus and ends up in the toilet is worth $500 a bottle?”

Liberal Leader Peter Dutton was ranked third on the list of high spenders in the new report, having spent about $363,000.

He was followed by Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek, who spent $326,248.

Defense Secretary Richard Marles had the second highest foreign travel bill, with almost $30,500 spent, followed by Coalition backbencher Darren Chester who spent $26,457 and Assistant Trade Minister Tim Ayres with $25,779.

The MPs who earned the most from family travel expenses were all Labor politicians representing Western Australia.

Perth MP Tania Lawrence spent about $15,500 on family travel, followed by WA Senator Fatima Payman and Swan MP Zaneta Mascarenhas.

Queensland MP Bob Katter spent more than any other politician on car costs: $28,405, followed by Labor MP Stephen Jones and Liberal MP Rick Wilson, who spent $24,967 and $23,493 respectively.