Premier, minister, commissioner take two jets on identical routes

Steven Miles has defended the duplication of flights for himself, the Police Minister and the new police commissioner to the same cities, at the same time.

Premier Steven Miles alights from his jet in Brisbane. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

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Premier Steven Miles has defended the use of two private jets travelling on identical routes to spruik the government’s crime announcements saying “it is a very big state”.

Queensland taxpayers paid for two jets to fly Steven Miles, Mark Ryan and Steve Gollschewski across the state to make a series of crime announcements just days after the government’s landmark emissions bill was passed.

Mr Miles, security and his staff took one jet from Brisbane to Townsville and on to Cairns on Monday, before returning to Townsville, then Hervey Bay and Brisbane on Tuesday.

A second plane took Mr Ryan and Mr Gollschewski on an identical route minutes apart, with the trio stopping at each port on their approximately 2800km trip to make a series of crime pledges.

“Whenever I can travel commercial I do,” Mr Miles said.

“But this week I’m aiming to be in as much of regional Queensland, talking to Queenslanders about what I know is a very important issue to them, and that’s our community safety plan.”

The Premier said the itinerary of himself along with the new Police Commissioner and Police Minister Mark Ryan going from Brisbane to Townsville, to Cairns, back to Townsville, to Hervey Bay, to Brisbane, back to Cairns and onto Townsville again would “not be possible” without taking private planes.

“That itinerary was based on my desire to make sure I and the Police Commissioner and the Police Minister are in regional Queensland as much as we possibly can be,” he said.

Mr Miles did not say what other staff were on the two planes, but said there was a “travelling party”.

The identical routes taken by the two jets

Asked whether it was a good use of taxpayer funds, Mr Miles said “I think that (travelling to regional Queensland) is a very important and valuable use of my time”.

“Queenslanders right across the state – not just in Brisbane – want to hear exactly what our plan is to keep our community safe, and I intend to keep doing it.”

The government did not answer questions on the cost to taxpayers, but Deputy Premier Cameron Dick on Wednesday also defended the duplication of flights, saying it was “an efficient use of the Premier’s time”.

Information on the type of jets used show they hire out privately for about $6500 per hour.

Flight logs obtained by The Courier-Mail show the two planes – an Embraer Phenom 300 flying the Premier and his team, and a Cessna Citation CJ2+ flying Mr Ryan and Mr Gollschewski and their staff – left Brisbane within 15 minutes of each other on Monday afternoon for Townsville.

The planes stopped in the city for just an hour and a half – with the trio driving approximately 10 minutes from the Townsville Airport to hold a media conference where Mr Miles and Mr Gollschewski announced extra support for victims of crime.

They then turned around and headed back to the airport to take separate jets to Cairns.

Mr Miles then appeared on breakfast TV on Tuesday morning, before both planes departed within 25 minutes of each other to return again to Townsville.

There Mr Miles, Mr Ryan and Mr Gollschewski held a media event to inspect the new Townsville police helicopter.

Approximately two hours later they departed for Hervey Bay, arriving twenty minutes apart, where the three announced an expansion to the Hervey Bay police station upgrades.

Both planes arrived back in Brisbane on Tuesday afternoon.

But flight logs show the trip wasn’t yet complete — with both planes departing from Brisbane for Cairns on Wednesday morning, and due to travel again to Townsville a few hours later for the third time in three days.

The Premier’s office did not answer questions on why the trio could not travel together, how many staff were flown on the jets, and how many spare seats were available.

Instead, a government spokeswoman said via a statement only one QGAir aircraft had been used by Mr Miles.

“The government endeavours to use commercial flights where available, but in this instance there were none suitable,” the spokeswoman said.

“This week the Premier and new Police Commissioner will meet with Queenslanders and the police right around the state, and share important community safety actions with communities.

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Police Commissioner Steve Gollschewski and Police Minister Mark Ryan (right) at Hervey Bay Airport

“It is this important engagement that underpins the government’s community safety plan – listening and delivering.

“Labor is a government for all of Queensland, not just the South East, so it’s critical that both the Premier, ministers and the Commissioner travel into the regions.”

Mr Dick said the choice to use charter aircraft was made by a team within the government and was “an efficient use of the premier’s time”.

“We have a dedicated team that works out the most appropriate aircraft for the number of people that are travelling and the aircraft that are available for use,” he said.

“Many Queenslanders would think it’s appropriate for the premier to be travelling to as many parts of the state as possible, as quickly as possible, as efficiently as possible and not spending his time on waiting for aircraft to depart.”

Mr Dick said the cost of ministerial travel was published in expense reports, but was unable to say whether there were spare seats on either aircraft and how many staff made the trip.

The two jets on the tarmac at Hervey Bay Airport.

When asked whether Queenslanders would receive those details of the trip, he was noncommittal.

“I’m not saying it’s not going to be provided. I’m saying we rely on that advice about how we should travel,” he said.

“Put your questions to the government, to the premier – we’re happy to look at that.”

The dual plane trip across the state comes after the government last week passed new laws introducing “strong action on emissions reductions”, including legislating emissions reduction targets in law for the first time.

A recent report from the European Federation for Transport and Environment found private planes emit between five and 14 times the amount of emissions per passenger than that of a commercial aircraft.

Last month Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Energy Minister Chris Bowen were labelled hypocrites for taking two separate Royal Australian Air Force jets to promote a $1bn solar scheme.

Mr Bowen told the press the two smaller jets were fully laden, and the runway available wasn’t strong enough to take the Prime Minister’s larger jet.

“We limited the number of staff and even then that was the air force advice of the most efficient way of getting there,” he said.