Prime Minister’s Office spent $1.5 million on MPs’ overseas treatment — ABC News Australia
In the Solomon Islands, the prime minister’s office spent about $1.5 million in 2025 on overseas medical treatment for MPs. This is more than the $1.2 million allocated for sending other citizens abroad for treatment, ABC News reports.
A media investigation raised questions over cases in which MPs and officials may have received public funding for overseas treatment, although doctors initially recommended care available within the country. Sources and documents reviewed by ABC indicate that over the five years leading up to 2026, some MPs may have received such funding despite initial recommendations to undergo treatment in the Solomon Islands.
Two funding mechanisms
Amendments to the 2020 parliamentary benefits rules allow MPs and their immediate family members to receive funds for overseas treatment if it is necessary, treatable and unavailable in the country. Referrals must be approved by a committee of specialist doctors at the Ministry of Health.
At the same time, according to parliamentary staff, since 2024 no referrals of MPs have been submitted to the Overseas Referrals Committee. Instead, their treatment was arranged under another scheme through the Office of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, which directly approved and paid the costs.
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Solomon Islands Attorney General Gabriel Suri described this mechanism as a lawful alternative to the parliamentary system. He said that MPs have two routes to access public funding for overseas medical care.
Claims of pressure and promise of changes
Several whistleblowers told ABC News that doctors may previously have felt pressure from politicians receiving medical services abroad to endorse referrals or approve expenses after treatment had already been provided. Journalists also saw evidence of three cases in which MPs first travelled abroad for treatment and later approached the committee for approval. One document lists bills of nearly $27,000 marked as payable by the Solomon Islands government.
Prime Minister Matthew Wale acknowledged the risk of politicisation of the system and said that from next year all funding would go through the Parliamentary Entitlements Commission, which is subject to stricter legal requirements.
Meanwhile, 30-year-old Anna Bugotu, who has rheumatic heart disease, is waiting for public funding for an operation abroad. She needs nearly $35,000 but has been able to raise only $5,000.
