Sept 7 not only significant date Cost of campaigning: Kevin Rudd While Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott hurtle around Australia on private jets kissing innumerable babies and pledging millions for new roads and hospitals, it might surprise you to learn that this is not an election campaign. Not so far as your money is concerned. For the purposes of campaign financing, the election period begins on the day of each party's official campaign launch and concludes after polling day, the Department of Finance confirmed. By delaying their election launches until the final fortnight of the campaign (August 25 for the Coalition, September 1 for Labor), Mr Rudd and Mr Abbott can travel on the taxpayer purse. Cost of campaigning: Tony Abbott Neither Team Rudd nor Team Abbott will say how much public money they are spending on their campaigns, but a typical day involves room charges at a five-star hotel, buffet breakfasts, two or more flights on private jets and trips in Comcars from one campaign event to the next. Mr Rudd is entitled to an overnight travel allowance of $545, Mr Abbott is entitled to varying amounts depending on which city he travels to. The most party insiders will concede is travel expenditure for this election "runs into the millions." Those closest to Mr Rudd and Mr Abbott say they have no idea about the overall figure. Total public funding for the 2010 election amounted to about $53 million, according to the Australian Electoral Commission, but this aggregates all the money claimed by parties and independent candidates. Any candidate who receives more than 4 per cent of the primary vote can claim $2.48 of taxpayer funds for each vote. The costs quickly accumulate. The Prime Minister and Opposition Leader are travelling around Australia - often two states a day - with more than a dozen staff, including media and policy advisers, personal staff and a hand-picked political counsellor (Mark Butler for Mr Rudd and Philip Ruddock for Mr Abbott). Both parties have advance teams scouting locations several days in advance to ensure that policy announcements and photo opportunities go off without a hitch. Mr Rudd also travels with a full-time photographer, who updates the Prime Minister's Facebook and Twitter accounts. Independent senator for South Australia Nick Xenophon said from the moment the election writs were issued the two major parties should pay for their campaigning out of their own pockets. "My travel, from the time the writs are issued ... I've paid for that myself," Senator Xenophon said. He said he had mortgaged his unit in suburban Adelaide and received about $100,000 in donations to pay for his campaign. But that would fall short of the roughly $500,000 he needed. Senator Xenophon hopes to win enough votes so he can pay off his debts with taxpayer funds. Both Liberal and Labor staffers defend their parties' use of chartered jets and five-star hotels, saying these are often the only means to accommodate their large travelling parties and security details. Veterans of past campaigns agree. "If we want a healthy democracy we have to accept that [political campaigns], at least insofar as the travelling parties of the two leaders are concerned, are legitimate public expenses," said Justin Di Lollo, former Labor campaigner and now head of government relations companies at STW Group. with Lisa Visentin