Coalition MPs charge taxpayers $2,500 for trip to 2013 AFL Grand Final

by Elizabeth Minter | Jun 23, 2020 | Dubious Travel Claims, Liberal Party, QED

Dubious Travel Claims | Liberal Party | QED

Political Meeting Ground

Coalition MPs charge taxpayers $2,500 for trip to 2013 AFL Grand Final

September 2013

Finance Minister Matthias Cormann, Trade Minister Steve Ciobo and Tasmanian senator David Bushby charged taxpayers more than $2,500 for a trip to the AFL grand final in 2013. All three were guests of the National Australia Bank and received complimentary tickets and hospitality.

Senator Cormann billed taxpayers $3,533 for airfares to attend the 2013 match with his wife. In a statement his office said he had “official commitments before, during and after the AFL grand final weekend”.

Trade Minister Steve Ciobo charged taxpayers $1,102 for an airfare to the match. According to the ABC, his office did not respond to a request for comment.

Tasmanian senator David Bushby billed $863 for flights from Hobart to Melbourne and back again. Senator Mitch Fifield also attended the grand final as a guest of the National Australia Bank but did not charge taxpayers for any travel. He lives in Victoria.

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?

Coalition MPs charge taxpayers $2,500 for trip to 2013 AFL Grand Final

Coalition MPs charge taxpayers $2,500 for trip to 2013 AFL Grand Final

What's a rort?

Conflicts of Interest

Deceptive Conduct

Election Rorts

Dubious Travel Claims

Thank you!

Thank you!

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