Well, well, well, would you look at that? Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has been reportedly charging taxpayers for flights which coincide with exclusive fundraising events. Although it’s not technically against the rules, the grey area these travel expenses are operating in feels a little bit icky.
According to a report by The Guardian, the Leader of the Opposition has been attending a range of exclusive events in the lead-up to his upcoming Liberal federal election campaign.
The catch? Politicians are not allowed to charge taxpayers for their travel expenses if the main purpose of the trip is to raise cashola for their party, instead of doing actual parliamentary business. While there is no suggestion that Dutton explicitly broke that rule, The Guardian‘s report points out that many of these fundraising events coincided with things that do count as parliamentary business, such as interviews, speeches and press conferences.
Citing publicly available expense records, The Guardian outlines multiple occasions where Dutton used taxpayer-funded flights to attend various fundraising events, along with parliamentary business.
For example, on October 21, 2024, he flew from Canberra to Sydney at the taxpayer’s expense of $422. The next day, he was a guest at a fundraiser for a financial firm before giving a speech at the Sydney Jewish Museum and completing interviews. He then attended a “small, exclusive dinner” at a private home on the North Shore. He then charged taxpayers $430 for a trip back to Brisbane.
On another occasion, on April 9, Dutton used taxpayer money to fly from Brisbane to Sydney. There, he delivered the Tom Hughes oration at the Sydney Opera House before staying at the venue as the special guest at a “private dinner” where donors could “discuss and raise issues with him” in an effort to raise funds for Liberal MP Julian Leeser‘s campaign.
For the full list of incidents, you can check out The Guardian‘s report HERE.
If it’s not against the rules, what’s the problem?
Although Dutton squeezing in fundraising events between his parliamentary duties is not against the rules, it has raised some questions over the system as it stands.
According to NSW supreme court judge and chair of the Centre for Public Integrity, Anthony Whealy, this kind of conduct sits in a grey area.
“I think the public demand that these sorts of systems be shaken up every now and again because clearly they’re not satisfactory,” Whealy said, per The Guardian.
“That’s because people slot their behaviour into systems and rules without those systems being examined closely enough.”
It’s not the first time that Dutton has found himself in a tricky spot regarding taxpayer-funded travel. Back in June last year, Dutton chartered a private jet from Canberra to Tamworth for a neat $23,000 AUD where he spoke about the cost of living crisis.
This shit writes itself, ladies and gentlemen.
But wait, there’s more!!!!
In April 2024, it was reported that Dutton’s office billed taxpayers a cheeky $6000 for his staff to be his plus ones to a shindig thrown by Australian billionaire Gina Rinehart.
Peter Dutton is due to go head to head with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in the upcoming federal election. However, the date for the election is yet to be announced.
The post Peter Dutton Has Been Charging Taxpayers For Flights Coinciding With Fundraisers appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .
