A travel claim totalling around AUD$30,000, submitted by Education Minister Christopher Pyne, will be paid by Australian taxpayers.
The MP’s traveling expenses while on a trip to Rome and London is being investigated, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.
Australian’s will have paid for a AUD$1352 day let’ bill at a luxury London hotel, more than AUD$2000 for a private lounge at Heathrow airport and even scones, coffee and croissants.
Pyne and his wife Carolyn’s expense came under scrutiny when a Freedom of Information inquiry addressed to the Department of Education revealed that it could not produce documents showing a foreign government invitation for Mrs Pyne nor an official program of events for her.
Guidelines for the Prime Minister and Cabinet’s travel allowances state that while ministers’ spouses would not normally accompany them on trips funded by the government there may be an exception in the case where the MP’s spouse has been invited by a foreign government or host organisation and an official separate program of events would require the spouse’s attendance.
These guidelines state: “It is not sufficient to include the spouse in the minister’s existing program of meetings. The travel must be justified and defensible.
Yet documents published by the Finance Department indicate that Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s chief of staff Peta Credlin had in fact approved Mrs Pyne’s travel, citing “significant representational aspect of the travel” for the basis of the approval.
Mr Pyne’s schedule during his visit included attending Anzac Day events in London on 25 April and a visit to Rome on 26 April to attend the sanctification of Pope John Paul II and Pope John XXIII.
He also gave a speech at London’s Policy Exchange and met two senior British government ministers during the day of April 28.
But Mr Pyne’s spokesman defended the expenses saying that, Mr Pyne acted as an official representative of the Australian government at the sanctification of Pope John Paul II, the Minister was expected to attend the event accompanied by his wife, “as was considered appropriate for an event of such solemn significance”.
“Approval of the travel arrangements stipulated there was to be no additional cost to the taxpayer for Mrs Pyne to attend the canonisation and none was incurred,” the spokesman said.
“The other Australian government representatives at the canonisations were also accompanied by their spouses. Mrs Pyne was recognised as an official guest at the event.”
On the subject of the necessity of booking two luxury rooms at a London hotel the spokesman again defended the expense saying, it was “in line with normal government practice and used throughout the day to support the minister and his chief of staff”, according to Fairfax.
“The rooms were accessed between meetings with the UK Minister for Education Michael Gove, the Minister responsible for Universities David Willets and a speech at the Policy Exchange. The rooms were used as a base throughout the day but not overnight, as the party flew directly to Australia after having started the day at dawn in Rome.”
Besides that AUD$2,000 Mr Pyne claimed for his trip, the hotel accommodation, extra airfare for his wife and VIP lounge at Heathrow, Mr Pyne also charged taxpayers AUD$244 for a passport application made on 15 April and added another AUD$108 to that bill to have it processed as a priority.
But it didn’t end there as taxpayers also paid for refreshments that included scones, croissants and coffee, besides meals.
Questions into the MP’s travel expenses come only two months after Treasurer Joe Hockey declared “the age of entitlement” to be over.
IMAGE: Australia’s Minister for Education Christopher Pyne. (Photo by Stefan Postles/Getty Images)