Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey has defended taking his family with him on a work trip to Perth, costing the taxpayer about $8000 in airfares.

Mr Hockey’s report to the Finance Department shows he claimed family return airfares from Sydney to Perth during school holidays in April 2013.

The total cost of the trip was more than $14,000.

• Hockey’s plan to nab investment cheats
• Pyne’s travel claims under the microscope
• PM not worried about opinion poll

Mr Hockey’s office has defended the trip, saying he had work meetings every day and was accompanied by his chief of staff as well as his family.

The PM says there will be a review to look at bringing parliamentary travel entitlements into line. Photo: AAP

A spokeswoman listed meetings Mr Hockey held with the WA Premier and Treasurer, the editor of the West Australian newspaper, his Liberal colleagues Senator Michaelia Cash, and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, resource and energy companies and senior public servants.

“WA was critical in the 2013 election campaign, given the prominence of removing the carbon and mining taxes,” the spokeswoman said.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott pointed to the review he has called to look at bringing parliamentary travel entitlements into line with community expectations.

“Obviously there are things that have been inside the rules but outside community expectations,” Mr Abbott said on Channel Nine.

“The sorts of things that would be inappropriate in business should likewise be not something that members of Parliament do.”

Greens Leader Richard Di Natale said his party wanted to see a new integrity commissioner assess parliamentarians’ travel claims.

“I think it’s one thing to say the kids are going to come to Canberra for a few days so they can see mum or dad, it’s another thing altogether to have these holidays in exotic locations where you might tack on a day trip at the end of it, and I think quite rightly people are really angry about that,” he said.

Travel claims under the microscope

Mr Hockey is the latest Federal MP to have travel claims questioned.

It was revealed on Saturday that Education Minister Christopher Pyne spent more than $5000 of taxpayers’ money flying himself and three family members to Sydney in 2009.

Tony Burke says it is a “justifiable expectation” his children should not have flown business class.

Department of Finance documents show that on Christmas Day in 2009, Mr Pyne and three family members flew from his home city of Adelaide to Sydney.

Each airfare cost $1200 and the family returned on New Year’s Day.

During the period Mr Pyne also spent almost $1000 on Commonwealth cars and claimed two nights of travel allowance.

The documents indicate Mr Pyne claimed the travel allowance because he had official shadow ministerial business.

Earlier this week Labor frontbencher Tony Burke was accused of “hypocrisy” when attacking outgoing parliamentary speaker Bronwyn Bishop over her expense claims.

Mr Burke’s own history of claims included charging taxpayers for going to a Robbie Williams concert and flying his family to Uluru in 2012 for $12,000.

Mr Burke said while the entitlements claims were within the rules, they were “beyond community expectations”.

Last week Mrs Bishop resigned as Speaker following ongoing criticism over her travel expenses.

It was revealed she had spent more than $5000 taking a chartered helicopter from Melbourne to Geelong to attend a Liberal Party fundraiser last November.

– ABC