Tony Abbott charged taxpayers over $95,000 for 16 days on the ground while Special Envoy for Indigenous Affairs
Source: US Embassy Kabul Afghanistan via Flickr
*Note: This article has since been published in an alternative format at independent journalism site New Matilda. You can donate to their work here.
Tony Abbott charged taxpayers over $95,000 for 16 days of travel to Indigenous communities while Special Envoy for Indigenous Affairs in 2018 and 2019, parliamentary expenditure records show.
The 16 days of travel appeared to constitute the only time Abbott spent on the ground visiting Indigenous communities in the approximately 8 months that he held the position of Special Envoy.
The expenses figure includes travel allowances, scheduled domestic flights, private car expenses, and unscheduled transport—which includes charter flights and rideshare services—sourced from quarterly expenditure reports released by the Australian Government's Independent Parliamentary Expenditure Authority (IPEA) between September 2018 to September 2019, and is exclusive of additional travel costs incurred by the advisory staff that accompanied Abbott over the 16 days.
In response to a freedom of information application, the National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA) stated Abbott held the role of Special Envoy until May 2019. Prime Minister Scott Morrison thanked Abbott for "agreeing to take on the role of Special Envoy" in a letter written on September 10, 2018, after his nomination of Abbott for the role sparked a revisiting of some of Abbott's racist comments, problematic initiatives that affected Indigenous programs, and the $534m in funding cuts to Indigenous services he approved while Prime Minister.
Abbott was allocated 2 staff to assist him in his Special Envoy position, an Advisor and Assistant Advisor, at additional expense to taxpayers. While Abbott was acting as Special Envoy between October 2018 and May 2019—in addition to costs listed for the month of June 2019—he recorded employee domestic travel costs of $151,107.
Abbott's individual expenses are the result of 5 domestic trips he took as part of his Special Envoy role to visit Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory, South Australia, Western Australia and Far North Queensland in late 2018, and South Eastern Queensland in early 2019.
Abbott made his public recommendations as Special Envoy on education in Indigenous communities to Parliament on December 6, 2018, after just 12 weeks in the role.
WARRINGAH CAMPAIGNING
While acting as Special Envoy from January to May 2019, Abbott dedicated substantial resources to campaigning in his home base of Sydney, in an unsuccessful attempt to keep his seat of Warringah in the May 17, 2019, election, but spent only 3 days visiting Indigenous communities, as part of a visit to Queensland in March.
In the lead up to the election, Abbott listed increasing office administration expenses. For printing and communication, advertising placements, telecommunications, and office consumables, Abbott charged taxpayers $170,347 over the 9 months from October 2018 until June 2019, the month after the election. His printing and distribution expenses jumped significantly in the weeks nearer the election, totalling $85,175 for the quarter of April-June 2019.
The Department of Finance stated in a November 8, 2019 response to a freedom of information application that it held no documents showing costs incurred by Abbott and his support staff relating to the last 5 months of their Special Envoy responsibilities, separate to publicly available parliamentarian expenditure reports.
In response to a request for comment, the IPEA stated that "parliamentarians must comply with the Parliamentary Business Resources principle-based framework when claiming any travel expenses," and that "detailed questions in relation to expenditure are best referred to the parliamentarian." Abbott could not be reached for comment.
Costs incurred by another Special Envoy appointed by the Prime Minister in mid-2018, Barnaby Joyce, came under scrutiny earlier this year when it emerged that Joyce had claimed $675,000 in expenses over the 9 months he held the position of Special Envoy for Drought, yet spent less than 3 weeks on the ground in drought-affected communities and did not file a single report as part of his work.
"NOT REQUIRED TO FILE REPORTS"
Requested under freedom of information of law to disclose the reporting requirements and terms of reference that had applied to Abbott's role as Special Envoy, the National Indigenous Australians Agency suggested in their response that no documents existed apart from the letter sent in September 2018 to Abbott by the Prime Minister.
"The Special Envoy's role was established through a commission letter from the Prime Minister which set out the terms of reference," stated the agency’s response to the freedom of information application.
Morrison outlined only a vague description of Abbott's role in his letter, writing that Abbott’s job would be to "start with outcome of indigenous children attending and thriving in school in remote areas and go backwards from there and advise me [Morrison] what is getting in the way and what can be done about it."
While Morrison wrote that Abbott would "report directly to [Morrison]" and work closely with the Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Nigel Scullion, and the Minister for Education, Dan Tehan, the letter did not confirm any timelines or firm requirements for Abbott to do so.
"I would welcome a monthly report on progress and insights," Morrison wrote. "As a first step, and before any timetables are set for reporting, I would welcome your submission to me about how you would like to attack this task. This will provide a strong basis for our first regular working discussion."
Morrison also stated in his letter that it would be valuable for Abbott to attend meetings of the Prime Minister's Indigenous Advisory Council while Abbott was acting as Special Envoy. Abbott did not attend the inaugural meeting of the Council in October 2018, as reported by NITV.
As part of their response to the freedom of information application, NIAA revealed that Abbott had not been required to file progress reports about travel he undertook while Special Envoy.
ABBOTT’s 5 ENVOY TRIPS
FAR NORTH QUEENSLAND: NOVEMBER 2018
Unscheduled transport—a definition which includes charter flights—accounted for $32,424 of Abbott's individual travel costs during his 3 day tour of Far North Queensland and surrounds, spanning Cairns, Coen, Aurukun Mission, Cooktown, Wondai and Townsville.
After the addition of connecting flights from Sydney at $1,868, private car costs of $609, and a travel allowance of $1,137, Abbott's trip to Far North Queensland totalled $36,038, exclusive of GST being applied to some of the transport fares.
SOUTH EASTERN QUEENSLAND: MARCH 2019
Abbott took 3 days off from his Warringah election campaign to take a Special Envoy trip to Brisbane, Townsville, Palm Island, Wondai and Archerfield between March 18 and 20, 2019. With connecting flight costs from Sydney of $2,169, private car costs of $913, and chartered flights worth $11,154, Abbott's individual costs for the 3 day trip totalled $14,236.
NORTHERN TERRITORY, SEPTEMBER 2018 & WESTERN AUSTRALIA, NOVEMBER 2018
Abbott opted to use scheduled domestic flights over chartered for his 3 day trips to both the Northern Territory in September 2018 and Western Australia in November 2018. His trip to the Northern Territory resulted in individual travel expenses of $4,632, and expenses for the trip to Western Australia came to $7,048, including travel allowances and private car use.
According to spending figures released by the IPEA under freedom of infromation law in December 2019, it cost $10,621.60 for advisory staff to accompany Abbott on the Northern Territory trip.
SOUTH AUSTRALIA: OCTOBER 30-NOVEMBER 1, 2018
Abbott chose an inefficient itinerary in South Australia that saw him crisscrossing the state, relying on private chartered transport rather than scheduled flights and highways, leading to travel costs of $33,813 for a 3 day trip.
According to spending figures released by the IPEA under freedom of infromation law in December 2019, it cost $5,684.50 for advisory staff to accompany Abbott on the trip.
After flying in from Sydney, Abbott travelled from Adelaide to Ceduna, in South Australia’s west. Commercial flights for the Adelaide-Ceduna route—a flight of 90 minutes duration—have long been available through regional airline Regional Express for less than $150 for a basic fare.
On the same day, Abbott visited the Indigenous community of Yalata, located 200km west of Ceduna, before returning to Adelaide at the day’s end. For his round trip from Adelaide to Ceduna to Yalata and back, Abbott listed individual costs of $11,347.05.
While in Yalata—where sections of Yalata land border the Eyre Highway—Abbott was under 400km away, directly, from one of his intended stops the next day, Coober Pedy. He chose instead to add over 1500km to his trip—and thousands in taxpayer funds—by returning to Adelaide for the night, before travelling the 850 km north to Coober Pedy the next day.
Before travelling north, Abbott made a quick trip to Murray Bridge, a town around 74km to Adelaide's east—just under an hour's drive away. By choosing to use chartered transport from Adelaide to Murray Bridge to Coober Pedy, Abbott generated costs of $18,962.
From Coober Pedy, Abbott travelled to the last stop on his trip through South Australia as Special Envoy, the community of Pukatja in the APY Lands—one of South Australia's most remote Aboriginal communities. After Abbott was greeted with a traditional welcome by the Anangu people, he added to his track record of thoughtless remarks, saying "thank you for putting up with the invasion" in the presence of students in a school classroom.
PUBLISHED AT 9:00 AM (GMT+10:30)
*Update, December 17: The first version of this article omitted expenses for advisory staff accompanying Abbott on trips to South Australia and the Northern Territory, and has now been updated to include this information.