Nationals investigated by watchdog over party room meeting held just before Melbourne Cup

Exclusive: Ipea documents show the travel of 13 Nationals MPs is being examined

The expenses watchdog is investigating allegations that the Nationals deliberately scheduled a party room meeting to coincide with the Melbourne Cup so its MPs could attend the race at Flemington while billing taxpayers for their travel.

Earlier this year, the former Nationals MP Llew O'Brien accused his former party of deliberately scheduling a meeting of federal MPs in Nagambie, north of Melbourne, in the days before the 2019 Melbourne Cup, so that politicians could put their travel-related expenses on the public purse.