$1,352 for Christopher Pyne’s day use of London hotel room

by Elizabeth Minter | Aug 4, 2020 | Dubious Travel Claims, QED

Dubious Travel Claims | QED

Christopher Pyne

$1,352 for Christopher Pyne’s day use of London hotel room

April 2013

Taxpayers were billed $1,352 to “day let” a room at a swish London hotel before the then education minister and his wife, Carolyn, flew back to Australia on the same day, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

More than $2,000 was also spent on VIP services at Heathrow Airport for the Pynes.

Mr Pyne and his wife enjoyed a $30,000 lavish trip to London and Rome in April paid for by taxpayers.

Documents released by the Education Department after a Freedom of Information request revealed Mr Pyne 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.

What's a rort?

Conflicts of Interest

Redirecting funding to pet hobbies; offering jobs to the boys without a proper tender process; secretly bankrolling candidates in elections; taking up private sector jobs in apparent breach of parliament’s code of ethics, the list goes on.

Deceptive Conduct

Claiming that greenhouse gas emissions have gone down when the facts clearly show otherwise; breaking the law on responding to FoI requests; reneging on promised legislation; claiming credit for legislation that doesn’t exist; accepting donations that breach rules. You get the drift of what behaviour this category captures.

Election Rorts

In the months before the last election, the Government spent hundreds of millions of dollars of Australian taxpayers’ money on grants for sports, community safety, rural development programs and more. Many of these grants were disproportionally awarded to marginal seats, with limited oversight and even less accountability.

Dubious Travel Claims

Ministerial business that just happens to coincide with a grand final or a concert; electorate business that must be conducted in prime tourist locations, or at the same time as party fundraisers. All above board, maybe, but does it really pass the pub test? Or does it just reinforce the fact that politicians take the public for mugs?

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$1,352 for Christopher Pyne’s day use of London hotel room

$1,352 for Christopher Pyne’s day use of London hotel room

What's a rort?

Conflicts of Interest

Deceptive Conduct

Election Rorts

Dubious Travel Claims

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