Mathias Cormann rejects claims of free overseas trip after travel company won $21 million contract

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has hit back at claims he received a free overseas trip from a travel company within weeks of it winning a $21 million contract from his department.

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has rejected claims he received a free trip to Singapore from a travel company within weeks of it winning a $21 million contract from his department.

News Corp has confirmed the minister was never charged by travel company Helloworld for return flights to Singapore costing $2780.82 for a January 2018 trip until he contacted the company yesterday after questions from the media.

It comes after Nine Newspapers reported the company, whose chief executive is Liberal Party Treasurer Andrew Burnes, had booked the flights for Senator Cormann, his wife and two children family under its “staff and family travel account”.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison defended Senator Cormann this morning, saying: “There was an oversight that has been identified and he’s fixed it up.”

“They were going to bill him and he didn’t get billed. When that was drawn to his attention, he paid the bill,” Mr Morrison told Melbourne radio 3AW.

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has rejected claims he received a free trip to Singapore from a travel company within weeks of it winning a $1 billion contract from his department.. Picture: Kym Smith

The company reportedly booked the flights for Senator Cormann just weeks before it announced its subsidiary, AOT, had won a three-year Finance Department contract.

Senator Cormann rejected reports this morning that the company had paid for his travel, saying: “Helloworld did not cover the cost of flights for a holiday to Singapore.”

“Flights were booked through Helloworld on commercial terms and should have been charged to my credit card straight away as instructed by me at the time,” he told News Corp.

“It emerged only yesterday that as a result of an administrative error by the company that did not happen and that the payment due remained outstanding.

“At no point, until approached by the media yesterday, were any reminders provided to me that payment remained outstanding.

“The payment was processed immediately once it became apparent to me that it did remain outstanding.”

Senator Cormann later told a Senate estimates hearing under questioning by Labor he personally phoned Mr Burnes on three occasions to book travel.

He said he usually received a reminder of outstanding payments and rectified the situation as soon as he realised the Singapore trip payment remained outstanding.

“There can’t be any suggestion at all that this was intended to be free travel - it wasn’t,” Senator Cormann told the committee.

Labor senator Penny Wong asked whether he felt it was an “odd arrangement” to deal with a company CEO, instead of a travel consultant.

“He was my contact that I knew at Helloworld,” Senator Cormann said, adding he had personally known Mr Burnes for “six or seven years”.

Helloworld CEO and federal treasurer of the Liberal Party, Andrew Burns said the issue came down to an “internal administrative oversight”. Picture: James Croucher

Helloworld chief financial officer Michael Burnett sent a letter to Senator Cormann this morning apologising for the “regrettable administrative error” that meant the payment was never processed.

“The flights were never ‘free’ and they were never intended to be free,” he said.

Letter from Helloworld to @MathiasCormann apologising for ‘administrative error’ over Singapore flights #auspol pic.twitter.com/1KCl7FbLbq

— Claire Bickers (@claire_bickers) February 18, 2019

Senator Cormann also said this morning that “at no point” did he have influence over the Finance Department’s tender process which saw AOT re-awarded the contract to provide travel and accommodation booking services to the Australian government.

AOT was first awarded by the contract under the Gillard government in 2012.

“I can confirm that I had absolutely no involvement in either the selection of the preferred tenderer or the awarding of the contract,” Senator Cormann said.

“When notified of the outcome of the tender, I was advised that the new contract was valued at $21 million for the initial term to 30 June 2020 and not $1 billion as reported today.

“AOT was first selected as the successful supplier of whole of government Accommodation Program Management Services in May 2012 – during the period of the previous Labor Government.

“No doubt the tender process awarding this contract to AOT back in 2012 was conducted appropriately at arms-length from the government of the day, in the same way as it was on this occasion.”

Senator Cormann added that AOT’s services had saved the Commonwealth an estimated $63 million from 2012 to 2017.

-with AAP

Originally published as Mathias Cormann rejects claims of free overseas trip after travel company won $21 million contract