Peta Credlin: Taxpayers foot lavish spending on minister trips and websites

Labor ministers racking up massive bills, including a $100,000 UN trip and $96 million website disaster, spark fresh questions about government waste, writes Peta Credlin.

Former NSW Labor premier Neville Wran famously once said that the best thing about the working class was getting out of it.

That’s certainly true for senior members of the Albanese government, led by the PM himself, who’s one day set to abandon his inner-city electorate for Copacabana on the Central Coast, where he has a $4 million mansion to escape to.

Then there’s Communications Minister Anika Wells, whose recent three-day jaunt to the UN cost well north of $100,000, including airfares for three people at $95,000, accommodation at $18,000 and an “event” costing $70,000.

Communications Minister Anika Wells spent more than $100,000 for a three-day jaunt to the UN for three people. Picture: NewsWire/Martin Ollman

Online searches suggest that first class to New York and back is about $30,000, compared to business class return airfares at about $10,000. Wells has reportedly denied flying first class.

Forgive me for wondering if Labor has reversed Tony Abbott’s ban on politicians flying first class? In any event, why she needed to travel with two staff is beyond me, surely she could have just given her six-minute speech via video conferencing?

The new website for the Bureau of Meteorology (right) was so poorly received that they have had to scrap it and go back to the old format. Picture: Meteorologist Anthony Cornelius

Then there’s the $96 million spent on a new website for the Bureau of Meteorology that’s been so poorly received that they have had to scrap it and go back to the old format.

Despite originally approved to cost $4m, no one seems to cop any consequences for a $92 million budget blowout.

And this is what upsets taxpayers. Yes, when compared to the billions wasted on projects like Snowy 2.0, $200,000 more or less on a trip is small beer.

But it’s hard to be frugal in big things while being extravagant in small ones. We work really hard to earn what the government takes from us in tax. The least we deserve is they spend it wisely.

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Originally published as Peta Credlin: Taxpayers foot lavish spending on minister trips and websites