Deputy Premier Susan Close racks up more than $72,000 in international travel charges in first months in government

The high cost of two international trips taken by Deputy Premier Susan Close last year has been revealed.

Deputy Premier Susan Close billed taxpayers more than $72,000 for two recent international trips, pushing the total amount spent on overseas travel for cabinet members and their staff above $325,000 since the election.

Dr Close visited Glasgow, London, Paris and Oslo in September for a series of meetings. She also travelled to Egypt in November for the COP27 climate change conference.

On both occasions she was accompanied by a staffer.

When she was in London, Dr Close took flowers to Buckingham Palace following the Queen’s death.

In publicly available disclosures, it was revealed the total cost of the Europe trip was $44,729, while the Egypt trip cost taxpayers nearly $28,000.

Dr Close laid flowers in London following the death of Queen Elizabeth while she was on a trip to Europe for a series of meetings. Picture: Susan Close/Instagram

On the Egypt trip, Dr Close and an adviser flew on a mix of business and economy class flights at a return cost of $26,164.

They stayed one night at the Hilton Cairo Heliopolis Cairon, which cost $876, but taxpayers were not charged for the remaining nights, at the Parrotel Aqua Park Resort, because the Scottish government had booked a surplus of rooms and offered them at no cost.

The remaining money was spent on incidentals, such as meals and taxi fares.

Disclosures for the travel, which are mandatory, were not uploaded online for more than three months following Dr Close’s return from Egypt.

Opposition treasury spokesman Matt Cowdrey said there were already questions over Dr Close’s transparency, after she was recently criticised by the state Ombudsman for her failure to handle basic Freedom of Information requests.

“A clear pattern is emerging, whereby Susan Close will do anything she can to avoid transparency and accountability,” he said.

“That’s why the Liberal opposition gives in-principle support to One Nation Upper House MP Sarah Game and her proposed legislation that would require taxpayer-funded ministerial interstate and overseas travel to be publicly-disclosed within 30 days.

“This type of initiative will help hold Susan Close and other members of Peter Malinauskas’ Labor team to account.”

Deputy Premier Susan Close at COP27 in Egypt. Picture: Facebook

In question time on Wednesday, the Liberals called on Dr Close to reveal further details of expenses for her two trips.

She maintained she had fulfilled her obligations.

“It is simply not true that I have not complied with the reporting requirements for overseas travel,” she said.

“I have complied with the exact same proactive disclosure regime that was used when the Liberals were in government.”

It comes after it was revealed taxpayers spent more than $78,000 sending Treasurer Stephen Mullighan and two others on a trip to the USA, and more than $150,000 for Mr Malinauskas, state government ministers and top public servants to fly business-class to Asia and stay in ritzy hotels on a five-night trip.

Originally published as Deputy Premier Susan Close racks up more than $72,000 in international travel charges in first months in government