The media maelstrom over travel expenses proves again how politicians hide behind “independently determined rules” while rorting the system. Former senator Rex Patrick explains.
In my 4.5 years as a senator, I used the family reunion travel scheme on three occasions to allow my daughter to travel with me while engaged on parliamentary duties; duties I would not otherwise have been able to perform as I was single and not about to leave a 13-year-old home alone. Those duties did not involve ‘Disney on Ice’ or any such event.
My point is, the family reunion scheme does have a proper purpose, but that purpose is not to allow MP’s families free trips to Thredbo, sporting finals, or weekend holidays at the taxpayers’ expense.
And federal politicians should not be allowed to get away with “it’s within the rules” or “the rules are set by an independent body”.
“It’s within the rules”
60,000 workers in Australia fly-in-fly-out to remote locations for work. They spend long periods away from their families. They don’t ask their employers or the taxpayer to foot the bill for event attendance or holidays.
So, pollies should consider their scheme a privilege, not something to be abused.
It’s not OK to say, “My travel was within the rules”. That’s a copout. Politicians, and particularly ministers, are required to exercise judgement as part of their duties and,
taking advantage of rules designed for some flexibility is not good judgement.
Politicians, and particularly ministers, are supposed to show the way. Rorting is not showing the way. The pub test applies.
Why business class?
As a senator, despite being entitled to business class air travel, I only flew business class twice. On both occasions, I had to be somewhere and could not get an economy fare to get there on time.
It’s reasonable for politicians from Perth or northern Australia, and for ministers, to fly business class, but that can’t be said for pollies on a one or two-hour flight from Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne or Adelaide to Canberra. Surely, those MPs and Senators can sit with the ‘cattle’ on short flights – they may even strike up a conversation and learn something about life outside their bubble.
I did not take notes, but I recall when I travelled Adelaide – Canberra – Adelaide that I was not the only parliamentarian in economy, but I did walk past many who’d settled into a comfy seat up the front.
Minister Anika Wells has been (rightly) questioned over a recent $100,000 trip to New York to spruik the government’s social media ban for children under 16. The high cost was for her, an advisor and a departmental official, after she delayed a flight to deal with the Optus triple-zero crisis, which meant that the booking was last-minute.
Perhaps there is some justification for her travel, but did she really have to take the advisor and a departmental official? Recognising the costs, she could have told them to stay in Australia. Besides, we have well-paid diplomats posted overseas who can assist Ministers at
their overseas meetings.
Hypocrisy Blitzkrieg: Anika Wells’ expenses meltdown opens can of worms
Rules not broken, but the rules are
Club Parliament has some generous perks that many MPs enjoy to the full. Unsurprisingly, they don’t like talking about such things.
Those few pollies willing to stick their heads up on family travel benefits have all pleaded, “I’m operating within the independently set rules”. It may be that they are operating within the rules, but when you look at what’s happening, it’s clear the rules are broken.
Prime Minister Albanese knows that these are long-running problems. In 1997, when he was barely a year into his first parliamentary term, there was the huge “Travel Rorts” scandal that rocked Prime Minister John Howard’s government. Three senior ministers, the PM’s chief of staff and a brace of senior bureaucrats lost their jobs. A Labor front-bench senator attempted suicide.
It was found then that MPs’ travel rules were broken and being abused. Reforms were made, then new abuses emerged, with loopholes and exceptions turned into shameless rorts. Eventually, after a series of further scandals, large and small, the IPEA was established during Malcolm Turnbull’s prime ministership.
Prime Minister Albanese knows this long history, and now faces revelations of new generations of MPs and Senators, especially his Ministers, pushing their family travel entitlements to the limit, well beyond what ordinary Australians regard as justified and acceptable.
Yet the Prime Minister initially refused to intervene, himself relying on the fact that the rules are long-standing and set by the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority, emphasising the word ‘independent’. That was a mistake.
He’s now succumbed to pressure from the media and the public and asked IPEA for advice. It might be accepted that the PM shouldn’t intervene in expanding or increasing entitlements, but he has every right, and a duty, to stop the rorting that’s going on.
Time for change
The rules around family reunion travel are flexible, but that flexibility has been subject to abuse.
The public is rightly angered. They’re doing it tough while some of our pollies are using public money recklessly to their own benefit.
The Prime Minister needs to be strong on this and put the public interest ahead of the interests of Club Parliament.