Jet-setting MPs burden taxpayers
21 Feb, 2010 01:00 AM
Deputy editor BARRY PRISMALL looks at how our federal politicians jet around. TASMANIA’S 17 federal MPs are building an airline loyalty points empire worth about four million points a year.
In the 2008-09 financial year they used their official travel entitlements to accumulate an average 250,000 points each. Over a six-year Senate term this would equate to about 1,500,000 points each or the equivalent of eight business class round trips to the USA.
Current serving politicians are not supposed to use the points but they can own them when they retire from Parliament or lose their seat.
They were supposed to use them to offset future official travel costs, but no points were redeemed last financial year. MPs argue that they must travel at peak times, when loyalty bonus seats are usually not available.
Some MPs would already have a multi-million cache of points, and even when they leave they are still entitled to some travel.
Former Tasmanian politicians who have left Canberra ran up $100,332 in travel bills last financial year and earned a combined 300,313 loyalty points.
Government figures released for the first time show that our 17 serving senators and MHRs spent $2.4 million in travel, including almost $400,000 in overseas travel.
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The big users of travel included Superannuation Minister Nick Sherry who ran up $326,521 in travel and similar costs and earned 300,863 airline loyalty points.
Deputy Opposition Senate leader Senator Eric Abetz spent $199,530 and earned 248,674 points.
Of the departed veterans – former Labor MP Harry Quick spent $18,266 on taxpayer funded travel; former Liberal senator Michael Townley from the 1980s spent $12,232; former Labor senator Michael Tate spent $9453; former Independent senator Brian Harradine spent $9021 and former Liberal senator Peter Rae spent $11,333.
The most expensive overseas travellers were Duncan Kerr who visited China and other Pacific nations at a cost of $93,901; Senator Richard Colbeck spent $23,542 on Israel and Egypt; Senator Kerry O’Brien spent $82,944 on a trip to the US. Senator Nick Sherry spent $95,989 on trips to the UK, Spain, US, Singapore, Indonesia, New Zealand and Vanuatu.
