By-elections bill set to top $8 million

Five federal by-elections held last weekend are expected to cost taxpayers at least $8 million, with the final bill yet to come in.

Voters went to the polls on July 28 in the seats of Perth, Fremantle, Longman, Braddon and Mayo after four MPs resigned due to dual citizenship issues and one stepped down for family reasons.

Recent federal by-election costs such as staff, premises and polling materials have averaged just over $1.7 million each.