Michael Danby silent on who paid for trip to Israel

Under siege MP Michael Danby has declined to say who funded his private trip to Israel last year.

Labor MP Michael Danby in parliament during Question Time. Picture: Gary Ramage

Federal Labor MP Michael Danby’s travel and hospitality to speak about pro-Israeli causes overseas was paid for by private interests, after he told party colleagues he was too ill to attend a sitting week of parliament.

But Mr Danby has declined to say who helped fund his travels in September last year in a handwritten update to his parliamentary register of interests that was submitted hastily on Monday after The Australian asked questions about the trip.

Nor has the Labor MP listed the dates for his sponsored travel and hospitality in the sparsely worded update that says: “Economy fare Geneva — Ben Gurion 2 nights accomm”.

The Australian reported on Monday that the Labor MP took a trip to Israel and Geneva in September last year and attended conferences after submitting a medical certificate stating he was unfit for parliamentary duties. The second week of Mr Danby’s absence was a sitting week of parliament, and some senior Labor colleagues say they were puzzled to hear “inter­national pips” when they called to ask after Mr Danby’s health in the belief he was ill at home in Melbourne.

Bill Shorten has refused to comment about Mr Danby claiming to be too ill to attend parliament and then leaving the country for speaking engagements. But the Labor MP’s international jaunt on parliamentary time has caused lingering ructions among his colleagues.

Greens leader Richard Di Natale has called on the Opposition leader to take action after Mr Shorten was quick to reprimand Mr Danby last month for using his parliamentary allowance to fund an advertisement attacking the ABC’s Jerusalem correspondent.

Federal MPs are required to update their parliamentary register of interests to include any sponsored travel and hospitality they receive that exceeds $300. Such updates, which also apply to gifts, real-estate purchases and other asset acquisitions, are meant to be submitted within 28 days of the change.

The MPs register is also required to include “any other interests where a conflict of interests with a member’s public duties could foreseeably arise or be seen to arise”. Knowingly false or misleading information is treated as a matter for possible contempt of parliament.

In a trip over three weeks of September last year, after telling party colleagues he was ill, Mr Danby attended a counter-­terrorism conference near Tel Aviv and then jointly hosted a media conference at the Jerusalem Press Club with a pro-Israeli group called NGO Monitor to criticise World Vision’s aid operations in Gaza. He then travelled to Geneva and spoke at separate UN Watch and NGO Monitor-linked events.

Mr Danby dated changes to his register of interests regarding the trip more than a year later, two days after questions about his travels were sent to him by The Australian. The change document was stamped by parliament’s register on Monday, the day The Australian’s report on the subject was published.

In previous years Mr Danby, like other MPs, has named his sponsors for trips. Mr Danby is a member of the NGO Monitor’s advisory board. He did not respond to questions from The Australian about whether NGO Monitor or any other group had paid for some or all of his trip.