Mathias Cormann’s flying ‘doctor’ to help secure OECD job

The Defence Department has revealed why taxpayers paid for a medic to fly around Europe with former finance minister Mathias Cormann.

EXCLUSIVE

The Defence Department has finally revealed why taxpayers paid for a personal medic to fly around Europe with the former finance minister Mathias Cormann, describing it as a vital element of the “mission” to secure him a new job.

As thousands of Australians remain stranded in Europe, the Morrison Government agreed to pay for a luxury RAAF jet to fly the former Western Australian MP all over the continent.

Australia’s bid to secure Mr Cormann a tax-free job running the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is set to cost millions, with an RAAF jet on standby to fly him all over Europe.

New documents tabled in Parliament reveal he was accompanied by a staff of nine on his travels including seven flight crew and two support staff.

One of those support staff was a defence medic posted on the VIP jet to provide medical treatment if the need arose.

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Former finance minister Mathias Cormann was given a luxury jet complete with personal medic to fly around Europe. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

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The Defence Department responded to Labor’s calls for more information on the RAAF jet trip, describing the medic as vital to the “mission” in new documents provided to Parliament.

“In support of the task, Defence provided a Special Purpose Aircraft and Defence personnel, which included 7 crew and 2 support staff, one of which was a medical officer,’’ the Defence Department said.

“Defence provided crew and support staff to enable mission assurance and appropriately manage any risks to the successful and safe execution of the mission. A medical officer was deemed necessary for this task.”

Mr Cormann’s campaign to become OECD secretary-general has seen him fly from Canberra to Perth, to Oman, to Turkey, to Denmark, to Germany, to Switzerland, to Slovenia, back to Switzerland, then Luxembourg, to Belgium and then to Spain on Australian Air Force jets.

The Prime Minister has previously said that the threat of COVID was the reason he was given the plane.

“I mean, there really wasn’t the practical option to use commercial flights in the time we had available because of COVID,’’ the Prime Minister said.

“I mean, if Mathias was flying around on commercial planes, he would have got COVID.

“The risk of that was extremely high. And so this is about safety, it’s about health. Mathias would be an outstanding Secretary-General of the OECD.

“So the COVID environment has really demanded this probably more than anything else.”

Mr Cormann could double his dough if he gets the gig with a base salary of $383,000 that is tax-free in member countries as an employee of the OECD.

He previously earned $390,000 as Senate leader but actually had to pay income tax in Australia for his troubles.