The Health Minister and Farrer MP came under fire this week for using a Defence Department RAAF jet to get from Canberra to a Pharmacy Guild conference on the Gold Coast in March.

But federal government documents reveal she also used the jet to get to Broken Hill on January 20, 2015.

The aircraft had been commissioned at a cost of $5441 by Environment Minister Greg Hunt, who was also on board, but he did not stick around to bring her home.

Instead, Ms Ley drove to Menindee, then chartered her own flight to Canberra worth $7505.

In a statement, the minister said it was important she attend the announcement of Broken Hill, then part of Farrer, as the first heritage listed city in Australia and immediate head to meetings relating to drought in the Menindee Lakes region.

Two months later – on March 13, 2015 – she spent $12,365 on chartered flights from Coolangatta to Parkes to Broken Hill in a day.

On both occassions, Ms Ley said no commercial flight would allow her to complete “longstanding electorate commitments”.

Albury deputy mayor Amanda Cohn, who ran against Ms Ley in the federal election, criticised the spending because she said “people are tired of politicians' entitlements”.

But the minister’s office defended the use of the expensive flights, saying Ms Ley had a responsibility to attend events relating to a large portfolio and electorate with remote towns away from major airports.

Use of the RAAF jet is not included in MPs usual documented travel expenses, which are collated by the Finance Department.

It is instead tabled separately under Defence Department spending and tabled in parliament twice a year, with a significant delay.

Ms Ley said it was not her decision to take the jet.

“Special purpose aircraft, operated by RAAF 34 Squadron, are approved in accordance with the guidelines,” she said. “Individual ministers are not the decision makers.”