Who pays for the Gifts?

Those who have been following the press in recent days would have noticed that there is a continuing story in regard to who covers costs of gifts presented by royals when undertaking duties in Australia. There are claims and confirmed by the PMs office that Her Majesty billed Australian taxpayers almost 15,000 dollars for gifts that she and HRH the Duke of Edinburgh presented during their last visit here in October. However where the story becomes interesting is that today Buckingham Palace has denied the story and stated all gifts are paid for by the Royal Household which brought a reconfirmation from the PMs office that it was the Australian Government who will be covering the cost of the gifts.  Now to the young fogey, who covers the costs for gifts given during a royal tour is not all that important. But it is of concern that under this government the PMs office is continually at odds with the Palace. Recently when summoned to meet with Her Majesty privately in London for the royal wedding, there were quickly claims from journalists citing two sources close to the PM that the meeting concerned Her Majesty giving what amounted to an order to make Australia a republic now even if the story were true(the young fogey suspects highly doubtful) the PM broke the convention of trust where private conversations with the sovereign should not be made public . We now have the PMs office in a war of words with the palace over who is picking up the tab in regard to gifts.  Where will it lead who knows but Im sure of this it wont be the last stunt leading up to Australia Day with republicans trying to grab a headline