Three senior NT bureaucrats’ trip to Texas in 2020 cost taxpayers nearly $50,000
TAXPAYERS were slugged thousands for three senior government bureaucrats to fly to the United States earlier this year, in a trip where they rubbed shoulders with global oil and gas heavy hitters
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TAXPAYERS were slugged close to $50,000 for three senior government bureaucrats to fly to the United States earlier this year, in a trip where they rubbed shoulders with global oil and gas heavy hitters.
It was revealed, by the CLP during budget estimates on Tuesday, that three bureaucrats from the now-defunct Department of Primary Resources and Industry travelled to Houston, Texas between January 31 and February 10, at a cost of $48,618.
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The bureaucrats, chief executive Alister Trier, regional geoscience director Ian Scrimgeour and petroleum operations senior director Louis Gomatos attended the North America Prospect Expo (NAPE), billed as the largest upstream oil and gas industry conference in the world.
NAPE ran from February 3 to February 7 according to the event’s website with basic tickets costing between USD$260 and USD$805.
They also met with the “Railroad Commission of Texas” which — despite its name — is the regulatory body for oil and gas in Texas, and the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources.
A meeting was also held with global oil, gas and fracking behemoth Halliburton, which is headquartered in Texas.
Departmental documents show the purpose of the trip was to “participate in Australia petroleum promotion and investment activities in Houston” and “discuss the USA shale industry and the challenges being faced”.
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CLP’s Daly MP Ian Sloan has asked the government to breakdown the cost of the trip, with answers due by next month.
The cost of the trip to Texas came in at nearly 40 per cent of the department’s entire international travel spend of $123,610 in 2019/20.
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