The less they know the better
The Age of Entitlement may be over for pensioners, students, sick
people and the unemployed, but it is alive and well for our fearless
leader.
Aside from his salary of $507,338 a year, Tony Abbott has claimed $628,736.33 in expenses for the first 6 months of this year.
In April Tony travelled to Japan, the Republic of Korea and China.
The trip, which lasted from April 5 to April 14 cost us $219,857.04 with
the following breakdown.
Accommodation and Meals $56,881.13Almost $60,000 for non-portfolio related hospitality? Party time, drinks are on us.
Additional Equipment Allowance $410.00
Basic Equipment Allowance $450.00
Fares $30,813.70
Ground Transport $16,746.81
Minor Official Expense Advance $504.00
Official Hospitality non Portfolio related $58,803.98
Related Travel Expenses $51,813.18
Travel Advance $3,434.24
His trip to Switzerland to attend the World Economic Forum from January 19 to January 25 cost us $120,309.22 comprised of
Accommodation and Meals $43,694.63Switzerland is a fairly small country but their “ground transport” must be hellishly expensive at over $7000 a day.
Additional Equipment Allowance $820.00
Basic Equipment Allowance $900.00
Fares $8,109.36
Ground Transport $43,515.63
Medical Costs $230.32
Minor Official Expense Advance $315.00
Related Travel Expenses $20,426.65
Travel Advance $2,297.63
The trip to PNG for a couple of nights in March only cost us
$5,549.63 which included $835.15 Medical Costs plus the ubiquitous Basic
and Additional Equipment allowances adding to $860.
On the domestic scene, Tony charges us $558 per night travelling
allowance every night he is away from home, on average 5-6 nights per
month. No wonder he was so keen to have his photo taken at the cancer
clinic before he flew back to Canberra after the private function in
Melbourne.
We paid $6,984.86 for the lease and petrol for Tony’s private vehicle on top of the $59,140.27 for Comcars.
It may seem nitpicking to go through the almost $150,000 we spent on
office stationery, printing and phones during that six months but the
three $15 late payment fees really aggravate me. Not only is it showing
disregard for their creditors and our money, they have thousands of
employees but they can’t manage to pay a bill on time?
But don’t get used to having access to this sort of information.
After embarrassing details of Education Minister Christopher Pyne’s lavish trip
to London and Rome with his wife were revealed by Fairfax Media in
September, the Abbott government decided to refuse to release documents
detailing the cost and purpose of overseas travel by Coalition
ministers, claiming they could “cause damage to Australia’s
international relations” if made public.
Mr Pyne’s trip from April 23 to April 30 to the UK and Italy to
“conduct a series of high-level meetings, attend ANZAC Day
commemorations and represent the Government at the canonisations of Pope
John Paul II and Pope John XXIII” cost us $30,661.76.
Taxpayers were billed $1352 to “day let” a room at a swish London
hotel before the minister and his wife, Carolyn, flew back to Australia
on the same day. More than $2000 was spent on VIP services at Heathrow
Airport for the Pynes.
The documents revealed Mr Pyne had got around guidelines that prevent
spouses being funded on overseas trips unless in certain circumstances
with a special letter of approval by Mr Abbott’s chief-of-staff, Peta
Credlin.
Considering the number of junkets that have been exposed and travel
allowances repaid, the decision to not release their claims for travel
expenses is perhaps not surprising from this “transparent, accountable,
trustworthy, adult” government.
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