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February 9, 2026
Taxpayer-funded renovations to the Greens’ party room in Parliament House could increase beyond $2.2 million, as individual line items draw scrutiny - including nearly $50,000 for carpet and more than $153,000 for joinery.
During a Senate Estimates hearing, Coalition finance spokesman James Paterson repeatedly pressed Department of Parliamentary Services officials over the escalating price tag, condemning what he described as wasteful government spending.
Total costs placed the project at $886,521 as of July 2025. The last time officials reported to Senate estimates, the figure had climbed to $1.6 million.
When asked whether any further expenses had been incurred beyond the $1.6 million, Assistant Secretary for Property Services Paul Pak Poy conceded there may have been additional charges.
“Possibly there has been some minor costs since then. I’d need to check that to be honest Senator” he said.
On Monday, it emerged the total cost had ballooned further, with additional works in the space pushing the price tag to $2,217,962.
Officials later confirmed renovations were divided into two separate projects.
Alongside the party room refurbishment, a suite of service upgrades, including heating and fire systems, is being carried out at a cost of roughly $600,000, pushing the overall figure above $2.2 million.
Mr Pak Poy said the additional works were undertaken while the space was already being refurbished.
“That project is where we take advantage of being in an area, and having demolished that area, to upgrade any of the services infrastructure, for example the heating system or the fire irrigation, that sort of thing,” he said.
Pressed on whether those costs would have been avoided if the party room renovation had not gone ahead, the official said he could not give a definitive answer.
He said such upgrades sometimes occurred independently but were often completed opportunistically during larger projects.
Attention then turned to the itemised costs, including $48,750 for carpet - a figure Mr Paterson described as “mind-blowing”.
“The most lavish home renovation wouldn’t spend $50,000 on carpet,” he said.
“Maybe it’s hand-woven or some special cotton or something.”
Mr Pak Poy rejected the comparison, saying the material was not standard off-the-shelf carpet.
“The cost of the carpet isn’t like going to Floors ‘R’ Us and buying a loom of carpet off the showroom floor, in this case, that particular part of the carpet needed to be custom made,” he said.
Asked whether a commercially available alternative could have matched the Parliament House colour scheme at a lower cost, the official said it was not possible.
Mr Paterson said taxpayers would struggle to accept that explanation.
“I think a taxpayer watching this, who was told it was just not possible to spend any less than $50,000 to carpet one room, would find that an incredulous answer,” he said.
Officials clarified the figure covered carpet not only for that room, but for other areas as well.
“I hope it covers a lot of other rooms,” Mr Paterson replied.
The Albanese government is facing mounting pressure over the effect of public spending on inflation, as economists and opposition figures call for tighter fiscal restraint.
During Question Time on Monday, the Treasurer was asked whether he was ignoring the warning messages
In response, he turned it back on the opposition, arguing their own election platform would have worsened the economic outlook.
"If we pick up and run with the shadow treasurer's own logic, then the fact that they just took to the election a policy for bigger deficits and more debt means they are conceding that if they had won the election, inflation would be higher and interest rates would be higher as well," he said.
Mr Paterson told Sky News "the Albanese Government is treating taxpayer money with reckless disregard.”
“At a time when government spending is fuelling inflation, a 400 per cent cost blowout on a slick new party room for the Greens is simply indefensible,” he said.