Nick Reece, Kevin Louey, Philip Le Liu and Gladys Liu to jet to China, Japan and Hong Kong

The Melbourne Lord Mayor, councillors and council staff will fly business class to Asia on a $130,000 trip that’s sparked criticism that the council should focus on “getting the basics right”.

Melbourne Lord Mayor Nick Reece will fly business class to Asia. Picture: Jason Edwards

Lord Mayor Nick Reece’s super-sized Asian trade junket is expected to cost City of Melbourne ratepayers at least $130,000 when staff costs are included.

The Herald Sun yesterday revealed that the cost of sending four councillors to China, Japan and Hong Kong in September is expected to cost $81,880, with a major part of the cost being spent on business class airfares.

Mr Reece will be joined by other councillors and council staff on the trip. Picture: David Crosling

It can now be revealed that up to three City of Melbourne employees, including Mr Reece’s Chief of Staff Nick Leys, are eligible to attend the trip.

Mr Leys, who has not determined whether he will attend the delegation, and the council’s Invest Melbourne boss Mark Cochrane-Holley would be eligible for business class flights, with each person’s ratepayer-funded bill for the trip expected to be $20,470.

At least one other City of Melbourne staff member would go with the councillors on the delegation but it is unclear if they would fly business class – which would reduce the cost to around $10,000 if they flew economy.

A Town Hall source said the attendance list had occupied a lot of time and energy among councillors.

“Trying to get on this junket has been the hottest ticket in town,” the source said.

“Nick Reece also made it clear there is likely to be more overseas trips funded by the ratepayer this term to the unlucky councillors who missed out this time.

“If only we spent this much effort and energy on getting the basics right like keeping our streets clean and removing graffiti.”

During Tuesday night’s meeting, Mr Reece spruiked how consequential the trade delegation would be to the future of Melbourne’s economy.

“This is a significant opportunity for council to strengthen our connections in China and Japan and secure tangible trade outcomes,” he said.

“We recently secured the headquarters of Chinese giants Sinopec and Rockcheck-Taewoo as well as major Indian tech companies First Source and Infosys.

“The Mission is tipped to generate an estimated $19 million in economic activity and up to 50 new jobs for Melbourne.”

The delegation will include Mr Reece and Councillors Kevin Louey, Philip Le Liu and Gladys Liu and will visit “priority partner cities of Chengdu, Nanjing and Tianjin in China and Osaka in Japan”, with stopovers in Hong Kong and Tokyo, between September 16 to 29.

Cr Owen Guest said it was unclear what value adding extra councillors to the trip would deliver for the City of Melbourne.

“I’m not convinced that we should be sending a large delegation,” he said.

“My gut tells me that we are going into the realms of overkill.

“I want to see some really hardcore evidence of the value that comes back here rather than just talking about multiculturalism.”

However, Mr Reece said the extra councillors being added to the ratepayer-funded delegation was a positive thing for Melbourne.

“I think it is good that we are taking a delegation of four councillors to China… and to Japan,” he said.

“I do want to say, having councillor Kevin Louey, Phil Le Liu and Gladys Liu are all being part of a delegation travelling to China is a wonderful thing

“The trip is a reflection of our incredible multicultural city

“The City of Melbourne is aggressively hunting international headquarters and we are putting our best foot forward with this strong delegation.”

Mr Reece said multiculturalism was Melbourne’s “superpower” when it comes to trade and foreign affairs and he said it was great to have three councillors of Chinese heritage going on an Asian trade mission.

Deputy Lord Mayor Roshena Campbell said the business delegation was an “extraordinarily good use of ratepayer money”.

The City of Melbourne voting to send four councillors on a super-sized overseas trade delegation comes on the same day that the Herald Sun revealed that Mr Reece had billed ratepayers more than $114,000 in travel since the end of 2020 when he was elected as Deputy Lord Mayor.

A City of Melbourne spokeswoman said: “The expenses reflect the significant demands on the Lord Mayor and Deputy Lord Mayor to attend a range of engagements, where they represent and advocate for the city.”

Originally published as Nick Reece, Kevin Louey, Philip Le Liu and Gladys Liu to jet to China, Japan and Hong Kong