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The Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority (IPEA) is an independent statutory authority with advisory, reporting and auditing responsibilities under the Parliamentary Business Resources (PBR) Act 2017 for the work expenses of parliamentarians and the staff they employ under the Members of Parliament (Staff) Act 1984 (MOP(S) Act).

IPEA was created following the then Prime Minister’s announcement of changes to parliamentarians’ work expenses on 13 January 2017.

On 3 April 2017 IPEA commenced as an interim executive agency.

On 1 July 2017, IPEA was established as a Commonwealth statutory authority under the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority Act 2017 (IPEA Act). This represented Australian Government progress towards the most significant reforms to parliamentarians' work expenses in 25 years.

Functions
IPEA has the following functions:


 * Giving advice to parliamentarians and MOP(S) Act staff about travel expenses and travel allowances.
 * Monitoring the travel expenses and travel allowances of parliamentarian and MOP(S) Act staff.
 * Preparing regular reports relating to:
 * all work expenses, travel expenses and travel allowances claimed by parliamentarians
 * Travel expenses and travel allowances claimed by MOP(S) Act staff.
 * Conducting audits relating to:
 * all work expenses, travel expenses and travel allowances claimed by parliamentarians
 * travel expenses and travel allowances claimed by MOP(S) Act staff.
 * Processing claims relating to travel expenses and travel allowances of parliamentarians and their staff.

CEO
IPEA’s current CEO is Ms Annwyn Godwin. Ms Godwin was appointed as the inaugural CEO of IPEA on 1 January 2018 and reappointed for a further 5 years on 4 November 2019 (to 31 December 2024).

Members of the Authority
Members of the Authority are appointed by the Governor-General. Under the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority Act 2017, the Members comprise a Chair and at least two, but not more than three other Members, with the President of the Remuneration Tribunal an ex officio Member.

The current Members are:


 * Ms Jillian Segal AO (Chair)
 * Mr John Conde AO (ex officio Member)
 * The Hon Gary Gray AO
 * Dr Julianne Jaques SC
 * The Hon Dennis Cowdroy AO QC.

The former Member(s) are:


 * The Hon Jeffrey Spender QC.

Education
IPEA provides parliamentarians and their staff with a range of up to date, reliable and engaging education resources so they can make informed decisions about their travel. These include:


 * Publications – an online library of 9 workbooks in PDF format. In addition, we have a Quick Reference Guide to Travel related resources for parliamentarians and their staff.
 * IPEA-Ed – easy-to-understand learning tools including training content, videos, FAQs and flowcharts.
 * Education sessions - face-to-face presentations and webinar style education sessions.

Reporting and audits
IPEA’s mandate is to provide greater accountability and transparency of parliamentarians’ expenses. IPEA does this by:


 * Publishing parliamentarians’ expenditure reports on a quarterly basis. Reports are published on the IPEA website
 * Monitoring the travel expenses and travel allowances of parliamentarians and MOP(S) Act staff
 * Conducting audits relating to:
 * all work expenses, travel expenses and travel allowances claimed by parliamentarians
 * travel expenses and travel allowances claimed by MOP(S) Act staff.

IPEA Act Review
Section 62 of the IPEA Act requires an independent review of its operation as soon as practicable after three years.

The review report was tabled in the Senate on 2 August 2022.


 * IPEA Act review.