Fleeting visit costs the taxpayer $4200 a day Goodbye: Former NSW premier Bob Carr announces his resignation from the Senate on Wednesday at Parliament House. Bob Carr's 19 months as foreign affairs minister was "somewhat fleeting" by his own admission. But Department of Finance records show the retiring NSW senator went full tilt while in the job. He spent an average of $4220 a day, including on international trips, domestic flights and chauffeured cars, according to his most recent six-month expense claim. The total cost to the taxpayer was $777,000 during this period. By comparison, Senator Carr's predecessors, Stephen Smith and the globetrotting Kevin Rudd, spent about $523,000 - or an average of $2843 a day - in their last six months in the role. Senator Carr, who will revert to his $300,000-a-year entitlement as a former NSW premier upon leaving the Federal Parliament, chalked up nine international trips during the six-month period ending December 31 and was overseas for 79 of 184 days. One three-week trip for "high level meetings" in the US, France, Japan, Cambodia and Indonesia cost taxpayers $200,000 alone - $159,000 in airfares. While in Australia he made 25 domestic flights - 18 with wife Helena - and spent a total $23,000 on Comcars. But, as foreshadowed by Fairfax Media last week, life in opposition was not for Senator Carr, who quit just seven weeks after being re-elected as a NSW senator. In justifying his hurried departure, he suggested that Australia think about adopting the US model of governance where expert outsiders can occupy cabinet roles without being elected officials. Having publicly protested his loyalty to former prime minister Julia Gillard in March, Senator Carr conceded on Wednesday that he had begun to question the direction of the government and its election chances under Ms Gillard before then. He said the government had "lost its way," referring to a cabinet meeting a week before a Fairfax Media front page suggesting he had switched allegiance to Mr Rudd. Senator Carr noted a "lack of canniness in the government," raising the implementation of the carbon tax as an example of when "caution and canniness" would have been a better path."This was tearing up the Neville Wran playbook for getting re-elected," he said. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten and Labor's Senate leader Penny Wong paid tribute to Senator Carr's remarkable political career, which included a record 10 years as NSW premier. "We will miss his resonant tone in the Senate," Ms Wong tweeted. The Labor Party opened nominations to replace Senator Carr and the candidate will almost certainly be beaten central coast MP Deb O'Neill, who has the backing of the Sussex Street machine. As well as needing to address a gender imbalance in the Senate for NSW, party operatives are keen to build a base on the central coast to win back the seats of Robertson and Dobell in 2016. ALP general-secretary Jamie Clements said: "When Ursula Stephens completes her term in June next year, NSW Labor will not have a single woman in the Senate. I think that's indefensible. Our rules require that 40 per cent of Senate spots are filled by women and I intend on delivering on that.