Leon Bignell: the Tourism Minister, the AFL Grand Final and a $75 1.4km chauffeur ride on us
REVEALED: How Tourism Minister Leon Bignell claimed for $75 for a 1.4km chauffeur trip to last year’s AFL Grand Final.
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IT is the ultimate experience for any football fan – joining thousands of supporters walking to the hallowed Melbourne Cricket Ground before the AFL Grand Final.
But one South Australian Cabinet minister instead billed taxpayers for a 1.4km chauffeur ride to the MCG last year so, he says, he had somewhere to store his luggage.
Documents obtained by The Advertiser show embattled Tourism Minister Leon Bignell – already under Opposition fire over his expenses – claimed for a $75 “VIP driver” to take him from his luxury hotel to the Sydney versus Hawthorn match. The journey, from the five-star Grand Hyatt, takes about 15 minutes to walk, while a cab costs up to $15.
The September 27 trip, which covered the equivalent distance from Victoria Square to Adelaide Oval, was part of a $1925 taxpayer-funded visit to attend the biggest day in Australian football.
According to invoices released under Freedom of Information laws, a further $75 was claimed for a car from the airport to the hotel and $110 from the ground to Tullamarine.
Mr Bignell, who is also Agriculture, Food and Fisheries Minister, claimed $1326.77 on a Qantas Flight, on the Friday from Adelaide, and a Virgin return trip.
His $312.62 hotel bill included $13 for laundry and valet.
Mr Bignell, the member for Mawson, in the southern suburbs, said his luggage was stored in the car boot while the driver undertook other work before he was picked up from Gate 1 and taken to the airport.
“If I am going to the ‘G’, I walk down there,” he said. “It was the most efficient way of making the flight straight after the game.”
The trip, he added, was predominantly a networking opportunity.
Separate invoices show that almost a fortnight later, while attending the International Dairy Farm Conference in Melbourne, the former TV journalist claimed almost $500 on chauffeured rides from VIP Driver Service.
The invoices, paid to Signature Limo Service Australia, show two $60 trips were claimed for a 2.2km journey from the Grand Hyatt to the Crown Casino complex on the same day.
That night, taxpayers were billed a further $135 for a chauffeured car back to his hotel from Crown Towers, including $65 for an hour’s wait while the Sport Australia Hall of Fame gala dinner finished. A cab costs up to $15. Mr Bignell insisted his expenses were cost-efficient.
Opposition treasury spokesman Rob Lucas criticised the “ outrageous waste of taxpayers’ money”.
“It is interesting to note that every weekend, AFL fans walk just over a kilometre from Rundle Mall to the Adelaide Oval without having to pay $75 for a limousine to drive them,” Mr Lucas said.
A political row erupted last month over ministerial foreign travel, which has cost taxpayers almost $1 million over the past financial year. The Advertiser revealed last month that Mr Bignell’s $150,344 foreign travel bill was the highest so far.
Mr Bignell has come under Opposition fire for spending almost $750 on chauffeur-driven cars on a Sydney trip in October last year, including at the NRL grand final.
Premier Jay Weatherill, who returns on Sunday from a South East Asian trade mission, last week announced a review into MPs travel expenses.