Communications Minister Anika Wells may have sent the Albanese government into a tailspin over her use of parliamentary expenses late last year.
But the saga clearly hasn’t deterred her Labor colleagues from shelling out to discharge their ministerial duties – in line with the rules, we would assume – according to fresh data released by the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority last week.
Among the biggest spenders on international travel over the March quarter was Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles, who expensed an aggregated total of $99,308 for a week-long trip to Japan and the US, according to the data. About a third of the sum was categorised as “ministerial fares”.
The declared reason was “official travel”, but Marles did not disclose how many staff he had taken with him on the trip from December 5 to December 12 last year.
“All travel conducted by the deputy prime minister either in his role as defence minister or as acting prime minister is in accordance with the relevant guidelines and security procedures,” a spokeswoman for Marles told CBD.
It’s by no means the biggest sum clocked by Marles, who in 2023 drew scrutiny in the Senate for moving to block the release of details related to his spending of $3.6 million in VIP flights over about a year from about April 2022. We can only guess he must be finding it hard to go back to flying economy after that.
Another big spender was Foreign Minister Penny Wong, who expensed an aggregated total of $80,093 to travel to Qatar and the US for just three days, from December 7 to December 10 last year. About half of that sum was categorised as “ministerial fares”. The number of employees who joined the senator was not disclosed.
Marles’ and Wong’s international travel coincided with the Australia-United States Ministerial Consultations in Washington DC on December 8, where they were scheduled to meet with US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Wong is also one of the largest spenders in the Labor cabinet on domestic travel, behind only Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, and Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke. In the latest reporting period, Wong expensed an aggregated total of $198,867.92 for domestic travel.
“The Foreign Minister was required to travel to the United States to attend the annual Australia-United States Ministerial Consultations (AUSMIN) with Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio,” a spokeswoman for Wong told CBD.
On the face of it, these figures are probably more defensible than the judgment that led Wells to a fly-in-fly-out jaunt to New York to pump up the government’s tyres over its social media ban late last year. Still, the figures don’t exactly scream restraint.
We asked representatives of both Marles and Wong whether the expenditure was considered reasonable, how far in advance the travel was booked, whether the respective ministers had flown business or premium economy, how many staff joined them, and for a full category breakdown of the expenses. But they were in no mood to enlighten us.
Albo’s UN honour for ‘inspirational leadership’
It is wheels up again for Airbus Albo, as the PM flies to pick up a Global Citizen Award at the United Nations in New York in September.
The prime minister is set to join the ranks of past winners, er, rapper will-i-am, Argentinian President Javier Milei, French President Emmanuel Macron, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, actors Forest Whitaker and Robert De Niro, former Canadian prime minister, now pop star Katy Perry’s boyfriend, Justin Trudeau, and FIFA president Gianni Infantino.
Albanese will receive the gong, which is bestowed by the Atlantic Council, an organisation with the lofty goal of shaping “the global future”, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in September. The PM will attend the UN’s High Level Week.
Albanese is getting his prize for his “inspirational leadership of Australia… (his) commitment to strengthening the AUKUS partnership and Indo-Pacific security co-operation … (and his) efforts to expand Australia’s engagement across South-East Asia and the Pacific”, according to the Atlantic Council.
Collecting a bragging right for global citizenship and inspirational leadership as Australia wrestles with negative real wage growth and unrelenting cost-of-living pressure is certainly a bold political choice.
Word in political circles is that the PM may also be mulling an earlier trip to the US for the FIFA World Cup mid-year, but CBD hears the visit is not currently on the cards.
Julie Bishop at Buckingham Palace with rockers and royals
Just a matter of days after resigning as chancellor of the Australian National University, jetsetting Julie Bishop has been rubbing shoulders with King Charles at Buckingham Palace.
Bishop was in London last week for the King’s Trust 50th anniversary celebrations, which included a garden party at Buckingham Palace with Charles and Queen Camilla where she and her partner Stephen Gray chewed the fat in a tea tent with rockers Rod Stewart and Phil Collins and legendary Queen guitarist Brian May.
Bishop, the rockers and the royals. It almost sounds like the set-up for a joke.
Also on her agenda was attending a gala marking the King’s Trust’s milestone at the Royal Albert Hall where fellow guests included Amal and George Clooney, Benedict Cumberbatch, Idris Elba, Rita Ora, and Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood.
Bishop, who is chair of the King’s Trust Australia, stepped down from her ANU role in early May after a tumultuous six-year period.
John Buckley is a CBD columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via email.
Fiona Byrne is the CBD columnist for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email.