The Fadden MP said he used"around"300 gigabytes of data in May 2018 and the charge of $2832 was a result of exceeding his data limit of 50GB and having to pay per gigabyte after that.
Mr Robert acknowledged the excessive charges were"much higher than anticipated and higher than what the community expects".
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But this week,in response to Senate Finance and Public Administration Legislation committee questions about Mr Robert's internet bills,the Department of Finance revealed it had quizzed him more than once about why he was spending so much for data at home.
"As standard practice,the Department of Finance monitors all expenditure,including residential
telephone and data costs and will discuss alternative plans with parliamentarians if necessary,"the agency told the committee.
"The Department discussed Mr Robert’s residential data plan with his office on multiple occasions since 2016,"the agency said.
Special Minister of State Alex Hawke said the massive charges were not covered by Mr Robert's department-approved plan and did not meet community expectations.