Taxpayer picks up Liberal backbencher Andrew Laming’s $13,500 Northern Territory travel bill

LIBERAL backbencher Andrew Laming is in hot water for charging the taxpayer more than $13,500 for his wife and daughters to accompany him on a week-long trip to the Northern Territory

LIBERAL backbencher Andrew Laming is in hot water for charging the taxpayer more than $13,500 for his wife and daughters to accompany him on a week-long trip to the Northern Territory.

Liberal backbencher Andrew Laming charged the taxpayer more than $13,500 for his wife and daughters to accompany him on a week-long trip to the NT

It follows revelations this week of Federal Labor Leader Bill Shorten’s expensive taxpayer-funded $17,940 ghost flight from Darwin to Canberra.

Mr Laming’s trip was taken in the middle of the Territory’s Dry Season in July.

Mr Laming gave a long list of reasons for making the taxpayer-funded trip but declined to explain why it was necessary for his wife and daughters to join him on the trip.

Taxpayers paid for his family to fly separately from Brisbane to Townsville to meet him.

Mr Laming’s seat of Bowman is in Brisbane’s east and he has not held a frontbench position since 2013.

Despite this, he wanted to visit Kununurra for NAIDOC Week, to meet indigenous leaders and health, education and social service providers.

Mr Laming and his family overnighted in Darwin before setting out for Kununurra by car.

There were overnight stops in Katherine and Timber Creek.

The Lamings enjoyed four nights in Kununurra.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten’s ‘ghost flight’ from Darwin to Canberra cost taxpayers $17,940

Apparently rather than flying back to Darwin to get to Brisbane they had to fly via Perth because their flight via Darwin was cancelled.

This cost taxpayers $3253.65 per person.

Mr Laming blamed the unforeseen cancellation of a flight from Kununurra to Darwin and alternative re-routing through Perth for the exorbitant cost, and said he was one of the least-travelled federal MPs.

However there was no mention of why consideration was not given to staying an extra night to catch the Kununurra to Darwin flight the next day.

This would have put Mr Laming in Darwin early in the evening where, just a few hours later, he may have been able to find seats on either of the budget carriers Jetstar or Tiger, which have 1am flights to Brisbane.

The flights arrive at the early bird start of 5.30am.

Mr Laming said he tried to spend a week each year in an indigenous community.

Originally published as Taxpayer picks up Liberal backbencher Andrew Laming’s $13,500 Northern Territory travel bill