The Defence Department has released the expenses accrued by members of parliament in special purpose flights which reveal the staggering cost of Prime Minister Albanese’s international trips.
The data released on Wednesday shows Mr Albanese spent $1,845,397 of taxpayer’s money on 138.4 hours of international flights and just over 200 hours on domestic flights between January 1 to June 30 – almost double the amount of the runner up.
Defence Minister Richard Marles spent $213,780 in special flights as Defence Minister and $842,061 as Deputy Prime Minister during the period, totalling $1,055,841.
The special purpose flights are operated by the Royal Australian Air Force No. 34 squadron who command a fleet of two Boeing business jets and three Dassault Falcon 7X aircraft.
The expenditure schedules for the special purpose flights say the aircraft supports the Australian government by enabling secure and timely travel for “government business in times of national crisis.”
The release of the expenditure reports comes after the government announced on Wednesday it will strive to “restore transparency and integrity” to the Parliamentary Expenditure Management System (PEMS), which it says was “severely mismanaged under the former government”.
The data was released shortly after Mr Marles received criticism for hiding his travel expenses which exceeded $3.6 million since becoming Deputy Prime Minister, claiming details of his special purpose flights could not be released due to security concerns.
Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen spent $95,105 between April and June and took aim at the Coalition for their criticism of Labor’s use of VIP flights, pointing out the Opposition Leader Peter Dutton had done the same.
Mr Dutton’s special purpose flight expenses came to just $5,789.
The expenditure summary released on Wednesday, which details the total expenditure of Members of Parliament, is a separate report to the Defence Department’s special purpose flight schedules.
Prime Minister Albanese topped the parliamentary list with a monumental total expenditure of $684,665.31 in Quarter 3 of 2022, almost doubling Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke who took second place.
In the statement issued by the Special Minister of State Don Farrell, the government will continue to publish parliamentary expenses from the July-September 2022 period.
The specialised aircraft unit has carried members of the Royal Family, heads of state, foreign dignitaries and Australian politicians.
The Boeing Business Jets (BBJ) have a meeting room, working space and communications facilities and is capable of carrying 6 crew members and 26 passengers.
With a range of 11,390 kilometres, the BBJs can fly directly from Canberra to Beijing.
(SKY NEWS)
