James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

The opposition is calling upon Labor to stand up and explain the policy behind the decision to restrict information concerning the details of politicians' flights. This is of particular importance because we seem to have had the Deputy Prime Minister use the Royal Australian Air Force as a golf buggy to transport his golf clubs around this country. We have a Deputy Prime Minister in this country who is echoing Donald Trump in becoming more concerned about golf and his golf clubs and use of official transport to transport golf clubs around this country than focusing on policy. The Deputy Prime Minister of this country has spent $3.6 million of taxpayers' money flying around the country, flying around the world.

It may be the case that these flights are legitimate, but we don't know because the government will not release the information about these flights. Now, $3.6 million is a lot of money. It is a Lotto win. You can retire. If you win the Lotto on Saturday night then you don't have to turn up for work on Monday, so it is a good lot of money. He has spent $3.6 million over 16 months. I pulled out the calculator and that is $225,000 a month on flights. That is $56,000 a week on flights. That is $8,000 a day on flights.

It may be the case that all of these flights are appropriate. It is important for security reasons that politicians in the senior levels of government are transported around the country but it is not important transport for your golf clubs to be transported around the country. As important, as expensive and as nice as those golf clubs may be, I think the taxpayers of this country have a right to know whether or not the Deputy Prime Minister has been using the Royal Australian Air Force to transport his golf clubs around this country. We the taxpayers, the people who pay for the politicians in this place, have a right to know whether the Deputy Prime Minister is more concerned with lowering his handicap than lowering the bill he sends to taxpayers for his use of taxpayer funded flights.

The opposition will be following up to the government over coming weeks on the use of these flights, trying to get the information from the government, because it is the right of the taxpayers to know how their money is being spent.

Question agreed to.