Brisbane City Council travel costs ratepayers $1 million

Latest Brisbane City Council figures reveal domestic and overseas trips made by councillors and staff have cost ratepayers more than a million dollars since the last council election.

JETSETTING city councillors and staff have spent more than a million dollars of ratepayer’s money on travel since the last council election, including a nearly $40,000 week-long jaunt to Germany.

Latest Brisbane City Council figures, obtained by The Courier-Mail, reveal domestic and overseas travel spending by high-flying councillors and staff is now totalling more than $350,000 a year – up from $291,503 in 2016.

The bill has been slammed by the Labor opposition as excessive, with Opposition Leader Jared Cassidy claiming the council should be using the internet to participate in conferences instead.

Travel data available online shows Brisbane City Council spent $358,861 on travel in 2018, $333,116 in 2017 and $291,503 in 2016 – putting the cost to ratepayers at more than a million dollars since the last election.

Brisbane City Council travel expenses more than triple

It follows The Sunday Mail’s investigation that a legal loophole allows Brisbane councillors to receive superannuation benefits of 20 per cent, more than double what the average worker earns and other city’s councillors receive.

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner has since committed to reconvening the tribunal that sets councillor salaries to sort out the massive super payments.

There were also further revelations this week that massive expense-of-office allowances were being paid directly into the personal bank accounts of the Brisbane Lord Mayor, Opposition Leader and council chairs, which can be spent on any personal expenses with none of their purchases documented or recorded.

Ratepayers forked out $125,146 in 2018 and $130,211 in 2017 for the council’s international travel expenses alone.

The most expensive month last year was May, when $86,829 was spent across four international and 48 domestic bookings, accommodation and allowance, and “other” costs.

That same month, a seven-day international trip cost $37,180 for three council officers to travel to Munich and Frankfurt in Germany to “learn about the latest” in waste management.

The second most expensive month for the year was November where $58,056.32 was spent, which included a $21,050.29 trip to Las Vegas for an Amazon conference.

No international costs have as yet been reported in Council monthly reports this year, but $103,173.10 has already been spent on domestic travel.

Cr Cassidy claimed the Mayor was “addicted to travel”.

“His LNP Councillors have racked up $14,000 on private taxi travel and now his LNP Administration has racked up over $1.1m in travel since the last election,” Cr Cassidy said.

“The LNP council has never explained why we every year need to send three people to the waste management conference in Germany nor what benefits Brisbane ratepayers get out of it.”

He said councillors should “spend more time online and less on airlines”.

“As the ability to communicate online improves markedly each year, you would expect the travel bill to drop accordingly, so we do question the benefits of these trips without proper reporting.”

“It’s particularly ironic that Adrian Schrinner has to physically send two officers to a conference hosted by online giant Amazon.”

Council’s Finance and Administration Chair Adam Allan defended the travel bills, saying Council had approved limited travel and only where it could benefit the city to “make it a better place to live, work and relax in the coming decades”.

“The LNP administration is open and transparent about all of its travel and all expenses are made publicly available on Council’s website,” Cr Allan said.

“This public record of travel expenses is a stark contrast to how the Labor government operated, who were secretive about their spend and billed ratepayers for more than $6 million in travel during their last five years in office.”