Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has defended the almost $4 million spent on taxpayer-funded flights as work and necessary, turning a question back to critics, "Which flight should I have not attended?"
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Ahead of a growing number of key overseas trips, documents released under freedom of information have revealed that for the 14 months, between April 2022 to June this year, Mr Albanese charged taxpayers more than $3.75 million for special-purpose RAAF flights.
Greens senator David Shoebridge, who requested the Defence Department documents on special-purpose aircraft schedules, described the cost as an "eye-watering bill".
Asked about the VIP flight bill and what he thought about an "Airbus Albo" newspaper headline during an interview on Sky News, Mr Albanese was short.
"Which meetings that I've been to should I have not attended and should Australia have not been represented at?" the Prime Minister said on Sunday.
By comparison, The Canberra Times has analysed special-purpose flight logs to find that former Prime Minister Scott Morrison spent around $3 million during his first 14 months in the top job.
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The documents released on Friday do not contain details around the dates, destinations and passengers on individual flights.
However, the VIP flights by Mr Albanese include trips to Indonesia for the G20 in November, addressing the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, and attending the G7 meeting in Hiroshima. There were also cross-country domestic flights and Europe trips, in which the Prime Minister, in one case, witnessed first-hand some of the devastation caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
"Of course, there's a need to fly the PM around for official duties, but this PM is billing taxpayers harder and faster for VIP flights than any before him," Senator Shoebridge said in a statement.
More prime ministerial flights are scheduled over the next few weeks as Mr Albanese participates in the international summit season. The Prime Minister is lined up to attend a series of summits in Indonesia and India over September: the ASEAN-Australia summit, the East Asia summit and the G20 Leaders' Summit in New Delhi.
There are also planned trips to the Philippines and the United States, as well as the prospect of a trip to China.
The Defence Department stopped publishing six-monthly reports covering politicians' use of the RAAF's VIP jet fleet in 2021, citing security concerns.
Senator Shoebridge said he faced difficulties in requesting the information through FOI from the department.
The now published schedules reveal Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles took more than $2.9 million worth of special-purpose RAAF flights during the same period as Mr Albanese, while Governor-General David Hurley charged almost $2 million and Foreign Minister Penny Wong had a $1.45 million bill for flights.
The Canberra Times understands future special-purpose aircraft schedules - detailing the cost in flights taken - will be published quarterly and tabled in Parliament twice a year herein.
Karen Barlow
Karen Barlow is ACM's Chief Political Correspondent. Working in the federal press gallery, she investigates and writes about federal politics and government. She has an interest in integrity, leadership and social equity. She has covered two Olympics and been to Antarctica twice. Contact her on karen.barlow@canberratimes.com.au
Karen Barlow is ACM's Chief Political Correspondent. Working in the federal press gallery, she investigates and writes about federal politics and government. She has an interest in integrity, leadership and social equity. She has covered two Olympics and been to Antarctica twice. Contact her on karen.barlow@canberratimes.com.au
