Calls intensify for the federal government to fully explain why it no longer publishes the information
A Guardian Australia analysis of special purpose flights data for 2023 showed a $767,716 bill for the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, and a bill of almost $4.1m for the prime minister, Anthony Albanese.A Guardian Australia analysis of special purpose flights data for 2023 showed a $767,716 bill for the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, and a bill of almost $4.1m for the prime minister, Anthony Albanese.
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup, who spent more than 750 hours in the air at a cost of nearly $4.1m. Albanese is followed by the defence minister, Richard Marles, who charged taxpayers $1,915,094 in 2023 for 432.8 hours in domestic and international flights.
Under the Albanese government’s updated VIP flight guidelines, the full details are no longer released publicly. Instead, domestic and international flying hours, along with the full costs, are tallied up and attributed to each politician in quarterly updates.were as a result of national security advice. Concerns had been raised that releasing the data exposed patterns of behaviour that made politicians vulnerable.
Kershaw added that reports of harassment, nuisance, offensive and threatening communications against Australian parliamentarians has increased by 160%.“Our focus has been on ensuring that the government is held accountable for the use of a public asset and that any reporting balances the need for transparency with the need to meet security requirements,” they said.
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