Conservative coalition MP Kevin Andrews drew on his taxpayer-funded "study allowance" when he travelled to the United States to attend a prayer breakfast and address a right-wing think tank.
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The Victorian backbencher skipped a week of parliament to participate in the 64th annual National Prayer Breakfast and deliver a speech at the influential Heritage Foundation in Washington DC last February.
The former minister says he paid for most of the trip himself but records show he also drew $1855 from his study entitlement.
Mr Andrews was one of the last MPs to draw on the controversial allowance, which was finally phased out last year.
The prayer breakfast – which was addressed by US President Barack Obama – was the key event of Mr Andrews' trip.
The other keynote speakers were evangelical TV producers Mark Burnett and Roma Downey.
Mr Burnett was also the producer of Donald Trump's reality TV series, The Apprentice, and is reportedly involved in his upcoming inauguration.
"The breakfast was a unique opportunity to meet, within a short space of time, political, civic and business leaders from the US and internationally, and to discuss current issues that are pertinent to my role as a member of the Australian Parliament," Mr Andrews said in a report submitted after the trip.
Mr Andrews also held a series of meetings on the event's sidelines with Tea Party figure Robert Alderholt, marriage educator Bill Coffin and policy experts on families and national security.
"It was an opportunity to re-establish US contacts, and to make new contacts, which is an invaluable asset for an Australian policy-maker," he said.
"Being a presidential election year – and coming at the time of the Iowa caucuses – I gleaned a considerable amount of information about current US political developments and their possible impact globally, including for Australia."
Mr Andrews also delivered a speech on "Australia's Global Security and Defense Challenges" to the Heritage Foundation.
Established in the 1970s, the Foundation was a key policymaker for Republican president Ronald Reagan and was a supporter of the original Iraq war. In recent years it has campaigned aggressively to defund Obamacare.
The Foundation's current president is former Republican senator Jim DeMint, a leading figure in the Tea Party and a pro-lifer who opposes same-sex marriage.
Mr Andrews spent five days in Washington and three days in Texas before returning home. Mr Andrews was dumped from the government frontbench when Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull took over from Tony Abbott.
