Albanese repays cost of Comcars for travel to party fundraiser
October 2018
Labor Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese charged the cost of two government Comcars to he used to travel to a Labor party fundraiser in Brisbane against his parliamentary allowances. Guardian Australia lodged a Freedom of Information request for details of the journeys. A spokesman for Mr Albanese said the $126 cost had been repaid but would not say if the money was repaid before or after Guardian Australia lodged the FoI request.
Anthony Albanese charged the $126 cost of the Comcars he used to travel to a Labor party fundraiser in Brisbane against his parliamentary allowances. Billed as “An Evening with Albo”, the October 2018 get-together was organised by the Galloways Hill branch of Queensland ALP to raise funds for the 2019 re-election campaign of local Labor MP, Terri Butler.
According to Guardian Australia, driver logs released under Freedom of Information show Albanese used the chauffeured government service to travel to and from the event in Hawthorne, which he charged against his parliamentary allowances. When contacted by Guardian Australia, a spokesman for Albanese said the $126 had been repaid “out of an abundance of caution to ensure there was no doubt there had been strict compliance with the guidelines”. The spokesman would not say if the money was repaid before or after Guardian Australia lodged the FoI request for details of the journeys.
A 30-year veteran of the mainstream media, Liz was the editor of MWMuntil June 2021. Liz began her career in journalism in 1990 and worked at The Age newspaper for two 10-year stints. She also worked at The Guardian newspaper in London for more than seven years. A former professional tennis player who represented Australia in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, Liz has a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Letters (Hons).