By Amy Remeikis and Adam Gartrell
Health Minister Sussan Ley charged taxpayers more than $13,000 to pilot private charter planes along busy capital city routes and is refusing to say why she didn't use cheaper commercial options.
The embattled minister stood aside on Monday after a week of pressure over her travel to the Gold Coast and a property purchase during a taxpayer-funded visit.
But travel records reveal the licensed commercial pilot also charged $6300 to fly from Canberra to Melbourne in July 2014 and another $7000 to travel from Canberra to Adelaide in May 2015.
Ms Ley's social media accounts indicate she was in the cockpit.
Sussan Ley was caught up in a travel expense scandal.Credit: Alex Massey
On both occasions she had official ministerial business to attend to - for childcare policy meetings in 2014 and talks with GPs in 2015.
However, ministerial guidelines say charters can only be used under special circumstances "such as where no scheduled commercial services exist or a minister would be unduly delayed by the use of scheduled services".
A spokesman for Ms Ley refused to say whether any such special circumstances existed.
"Sussan Ley's travel claims are being independently reviewed by the Departments of Prime Minister and Cabinet and Finance," the spokesman said.
Ms Ley at the controls of her light plane.
"Ms Ley, who has stepped aside from her ministerial position, is co-operating fully with these reviews and will await their outcomes. At this stage, it would be premature and inappropriate to be commenting before the release of the findings of these thorough reviews."
If she had flown commercially she could have done so at a fraction of the cost. Twice daily Canberra to Adelaide Qantas flights cost between $190 in economy and $815 for business-class.
Qantas typically runs Canberra to Melbourne flights once every hour on weekdays for between $180 and $770.
Ms Ley is a prodigious user of charter flights around her own electorate, racking up 120 charter flights at a cost of about $210,000 since 2014. She has previously justified these expenses on the basis she has a big electorate and it's the only way to efficiently serve her constituents.
"It's not an extravagant form of transport," she told the ABC in 2015.
"It's a third of New South Wales, and I love every inch of it," she said of her electorate at the time. "If I don't have the chance to talk to my constituents, my contribution is of a lesser value, I feel."
Ms Ley also regularly charters planes between Canberra and her home base of Albury, with costs ranging from $1500 to $4000 per flight - even though it's only a three and a half hour drive.
Other MPs from the area, including neighbouring crossbench independent Cathy McGowan, regularly make the drive.
According to Civil Aviation Safety Authority guidelines commercial pilots must fly three flights every 90 days to maintain their licences.
Ms Ley's social media indicates she also flew herself on a charter plane from Canberra to Melbourne on September 2 last year so she could attend an AFL women's match in her capacity as Sports Minister.
However it's unknown what she charged taxpayers for this flight because records for that period haven't yet been publicly released.