The Weatherill Government is reviewing the travel entitlements regime for state MPs, InDaily can reveal.

It’s understood reform of the existing rules will form part of a broader package of measures flagged when parliament opened in February, overhauling allowances, remuneration and a code of conduct for lobbyists.

It will be pursued when parliament resumes next month, with Premier Jay Weatherill saying he wants “ to be satisfied there could be no suggestion the way we’re conducting ourselves is anything but above reproach”.

The process has been in train for some months, but the revelation follows a federal storm over entitlements, with the resignation of Speaker Bronwyn Bishop over the ‘Choppergate’ scandal and a Commonwealth review flagged.

Weatherill has already overseen one state review into travel perks, after revelations in 2011 former frontbencher Grace Portolesi had claimed expenses for her then seven-year-old daughter to accompany her on an overseas business trip.

However, the Premier says his general position on MPs’ travel is that there should be more of it.

News of the review comes as more than 120 political functionaries, business and community leaders prepare to descend on Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand on Sunday to spruik the Weatherill Government’s South East Asia Strategy – but Tourism Minister Leon Bignell will be staying at home.

That’s despite Weatherill telling InDaily the networking tour would focus on “increased tourism, increased international students, increased two-way trade … all the endeavours we’re promoting”.

He said food and wine, defence, health and advanced manufacturing industries were all on the agenda, with Trade Minister Martin Hamilton-Smith and Higher Education Minister Gail Gago joining the Premier on the trip.

However, he insisted Bignell had not been leant on to stay home after last month falling foul of Opposition scrutiny of his $150,000 yearly travel bill, which included a shared a $130 bottle of Argentinian wine with his advisor in Glasgow.

“I’d prefer him to be there, but it’s a question of logistics, in terms of the number of ministers we can have out of the state (at one time),” Weatherill said.

“My preference is to have as many relevant ministers as we can (but) sometimes it’s just not practical.”

Bignell told InDaily via SMS that there was “value is follow-up meetings so I’ll probably head up (to the region) later this year or early next year as part of the relationship-building with tourism and agri-business sectors”.

“The Premier and Marty (Hamilton-Smith) will do this round and then we work out what follow-up is required,” he wrote.

Weatherill denied he had raised any PR concerns about Bignell joining him on the trip.

“No, because I fully support all his international missions,” he said.

“I think they’ve all been important and valuable, and I’m proposing he continues to do them…it’s just a question of how many he can sensibly fit into a year given his other responsibilities.”

Weatherill said he encouraged all his ministers to travel, particularly Bignell and Hamilton-Smith, “but there’s a limit logistically and also physically”.

“I haven’t had anything that’s been drawn to my attention that indicates excessive expenditure,” he said.

“At the time when all the issues arose, I said I expected people to be prudent in the way they travel and expenses incurred.

“But beyond that I’d already commenced many months ago a process considering all these matters, because I wanted to be satisfied there could be no suggestion the way we’re conducting ourselves is anything but above reproach.”

He said he had already spearheaded transparency measures, arguing “the reason people are able to scrutinise travel expenses is because they go up online”.

“My general position on travel is there should be more of it,” he said.

“SA members of parliament should be engaging with the world and ideas, and bringing them back for the benefit of SA.”

Next week’s tour dovetails onto this week’s mission to India, and will take in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Bangkok.

It follows a 200-person delegation to Shandong, China in May, for which the Premier’s expenses are revealed on his departmental website to be $32,042.

He said the Singapore component will coincide with the republic’s 50^th anniversary celebrations, and SA was poised to capitalise on some unique contacts.

“The president of Singapore (Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam) has a really fond recollection of his time here at the University of Adelaide … his first child was born here and he has a really deep affection for SA, which gives us an extraordinary amount of access,” Weatherill revealed.

“We’re hoping to deepen that relationship (and) we have a few ideas about how we can use the fact he’s the president of Singapore.”