The Canberra Times, 18 February 2019:
Finance Minister Mathias
Cormann's flights for a family holiday to Singapore were paid for by a
travel company controlled by Liberal Party Treasurer Andrew Burnes within weeks
of that company winning a $1 billion contract from Cormann's department.
Helloworld, a listed
company of which Mr Burnes is the chief executive, booked the flights for
Senator Cormann, his wife and two children on the company's "staff and
family travel" account.
Records kept by
Helloworld and obtained by The Age and Sydney Morning
Herald reveal that the Melbourne-based travel company paid $2780.82 for
the Singapore flights, which were booked in July 2017.
Helloworld announced the
following month that its subsidiary, AOT, was the winner of the
three-year-plus, $300 million per year finance department tender. Departmental
sources claim Helloworld had achieved preferred tenderer status before Senator
Cormann's flights were booked in July.
Senator Cormann and his
family took the trip in early January, 2018.
The minister only paid
for the return flights to Singapore from Perth on Monday afternoon, after Mr
Burnes and Senator Cormann were contacted by The Age and Sydney
Morning Herald.
Finance Minister Mathias
Cormann's flights for a family holiday to Singapore were paid for by a
travel company controlled by Liberal Party Treasurer Andrew Burnes within weeks
of that company winning a $1 billion contract from Cormann's department.
Helloworld, a listed
company of which Mr Burnes is the chief executive, booked the flights for
Senator Cormann, his wife and two children on the company's "staff and
family travel" account.
Records kept by
Helloworld and obtained by The Age and Sydney Morning
Herald reveal that the Melbourne-based travel company paid $2780.82 for the
Singapore flights, which were booked in July 2017.
Helloworld announced the
following month that its subsidiary, AOT, was the winner of the
three-year-plus, $300 million per year finance department tender. Departmental
sources claim Helloworld had achieved preferred tenderer status before Senator
Cormann's flights were booked in July.
Senator Cormann and his
family took the trip in early January, 2018.
The minister only paid
for the return flights to Singapore from Perth on Monday afternoon, after Mr Burnes
and Senator Cormann were contacted by The Age and Sydney
Morning Herald.
Senator Cormann said on
Monday he had "no idea" that the travel had been booked on the family
and staff travel account, nor that his credit card had not been charged. He was
"completely unaware of internal administrative arrangements at Helloworld
in terms of how they managed private and personal travel".
Mr Burnes said it was
"absolutely an internal administrative oversight" that Senator
Cormann’s credit card had not been charged for the trip when it was booked,
which allowed the politician and his family to fly for free to Singapore.
Senator Cormann, who is
a close personal and political associate of Mr Burnes, a Liberal donor, has
never declared the Singapore family holiday on his parliamentary register of
interests….
When The
Age and Sydney Morning Herald sought comment from Mr Burnes on
Monday about why his travel group had booked the Cormann family’s travel, he
said: “We sell $6.5 billion worth of travel. So many people use our company to
book their travel.”
Sources close to the
company said that his personal office had arranged the Perth to Singapore
booking after a request from Mr Cormann some time before 17 July 2017.
A Helloworld source said
it was “probably inappropriate” that Mr Cormann’s travel was booked via a
“family and staff” account.
The
Age and Sydney Morning Herald are not accusing Senator Cormann
or Mr Burnes of any wrongdoing.
It's not just 'friends' who give Cormann trips for free, he has something of a history when it comes to having the taxpayer foot the bill......
Daily
Mail, 14
February 2019:
Finance Minister Mathias
Cormann charged taxpayers $4,400 to take his wife on a romantic beach getaway
on her birthday.
The Liberal senator for
Western Australia treated his new spouse Hayley Ross, a lawyer, to a weekend
away in a remote resort town known for its beach camel rides on July 9, 2010.
To mark her 28th
birthday on a Friday, he arranged for her to fly 2,200km from their home city
of Perth to Broome in the far north of his vast state, Department of
Finance records show.
This direct flight cost
the public purse $1,741 as part of a three-day weekend away to Broome which
cost taxpayers $4,397.
It included $221 in
charter hire cars to get around Broome on Hayley Ross' birthday, and $118 in
Commonwealth car transport to get the couple to and from Perth
airport.
The senator also claimed
$676 in travel allowance for two nights' accommodation in Broome as 'electorate
business'.
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