Damien Brown Mercury
FORMER premier Paul Lennon took a $11,000 taxpayer-funded trip to New Zealand just two days before he quit the top job. Mr Lennon’s trip included a stopover to watch a game of AFL football on the way home. Tasmanians have forked out almost three-quarters of a million dollars to send state politicians on trips overseas, interstate and intrastate last year. Figures obtained by the Mercury also showed Tasmanian workers coughed up for the wives of Leader of the Government in the Upper House Doug Parkinson and Liberal leader Will Hodgman to accompany their husbands on overseas visits. Mr Parkinson’s wife Desley travelled with her husband to the United States for 11 days in January to represent the Government at the G’day USA-Australia Week event. The pair, along with an adviser and an executive support staffer, racked up $63,836.23 in expenses, which equates to more than $5800 a day. Read more here
