TAXPAYERS are footing a hefty bill for Prime Minister Tony Abbott's cook and an attendant to change his sheets and towels at the federal police college in Canberra.
Mr Abbott took up the modest AFP college room after knocking back a luxury Canberra rental house he was supposed to occupy while The Lodge is being renovated.
The cost of providing a cook who prepares his meals at Parliament House, an attendant, a house manager and garden maintenance for The Lodge will total $1.6 million this year, rising to $1.85 million in four years.
"So the end of the age of entitlement doesn't apply to the prime minister's residence," Labor Senator Penny Wong told a Senate estimates hearing on Tuesday.
