A Liberal MP and member of the parliamentary committee that oversees MPs’ privileges and interests has spent more than $10,000 on questionable travel and billed taxpayers for about $2500 on books that bear no obvious relation to his job, Fairfax Media can reveal.

Don Randall, who once described Cheryl Kernot as having the ''morals of an alley cat on heat'' and Tasmania as a ''leech on the teat'' of the Australian economy, has refused to answer questions about his own expense claims, which include billing taxpayers for travel that appears to be linked to his Cairns investment property.

Mr Randall has also spent thousands on books including children's cookbooks, a guide to Broadway musicals and multiple copies of Guinness World Records, despite them seemingly failing to fulfil the requirement of relating to ''parliamentary, electorate or official business''.

After being given a day to consider a number of written questions from Fairfax Media, Mr Randall declined to respond.

In November 2012 the West Australian MP and a family member flew to Cairns for an overnight stay. Mr Randall claimed the $5259 trip was “electorate business”, despite it being 3446 kilometres from his electorate of Canning.

A week after returning from Cairns, on November 26, Mr Randall updated his pecuniary interests register, saying: “My wife and I have taken possession of the house at the Cairns location. We intend to rent the house as an investment.”

The pair, who own three properties, bought land in the Cairns suburb of Trinity Park in 2007 for $148,000 but only began building on the property in mid-2012. The four-bedroom house is currently being rented out for $410 a week.

Fairfax Media gave Mr Randall the opportunity to explain how his trip to Cairns involved any legitimate "electorate business" but he declined to comment. He also declined the opportunity to deny the trip was associated with his investment property.

A Department of Finance spokeswoman said the rules around “electorate business” were “purpose based not definition based”, adding that parliamentarians “may claim travel related to electorate business that is not confined to their geographic electorate.”

Two months before his Cairns trip, on Saturday, September 15, Mr Randall and a family member flew to Melbourne and claimed $371 travelling allowance for an overnight stay. The reason for the trip was “sittings of parliament”.

Mr Randall then flew from Melbourne to Canberra for the start of the sitting week, while his family member took a return flight to Perth. The trip cost taxpayers $5300.

Asked how Mr Randall could justify billing taxpayers for “sittings of parliament” when he was in Melbourne on a Saturday, a spokeswoman declined to comment.

On another trip, this time an “overseas study” tour to Sri Lanka in October 2012, Mr Randall billed taxpayers $2135 for mobile phone calls made while overseas. Mr Randall's study tour, which he took with his wife, cost taxpayers $28,408.

Mr Randall, who often laments "government waste”, has spent thousands of dollars of taxpayers’ money over the past two years on books about sport, cooking and music.

Taxpayer-funded purchases include Broadway Musicals Show by Show, numerous copies of the Guinness World Records, cooking books including The Australian Women’s Weekly Cooking School for Kids, and Animals: A Child’s Encyclopaedia.

Some books were purchased multiple times, raising the question of whether they were bought as gifts.

Mr Randall’s questionable expenses were discovered by readers who participated in Fairfax’s crowdsourced investigation into politicians’ entitlements.

It follows a series of Fairfax Media stories, which have revealed that a quarter of the Coalition frontbench, including Prime Minister Tony Abbott, have claimed a total of about $16,000 worth of taxpayer funds to attend weddings. About a quarter of this money has been refunded following exposure in the media.

This story was sparked by a reader tip-off. Help Fairfax Media continue its investigation into politicians' expenses here. Email [email protected]

Don Randall Dodges Questions Over Expense Claims For Trip To Cairns

Quelle horreur!!!

It now seems that Tony, Teresa, George, Don, Barnaby & Julie, as well as Tony, Julia, Anthony, Mark, Jacinta, Mark, Don, Trish & Kirstin, must have all gone to the same finishing school as Peter?