Floods to fundraising: Anthony Albanese racks up air miles
Anthony Albanese interrupted his crisis tour of flood-bound Queensland and crime-hit Alice Springs to attend a $10,000-a-plate Labor fundraiser and a campaign launch.
Anthony Albanese interrupted his crisis tour of flood-bound Queensland and crime-hit Alice Springs to attend a $10,000-a-plate Labor fundraiser and a campaign launch.
The Prime Minister cut short his parliamentary week late Wednesday, leaving Canberra to fly to Townsville, which had been hit by monsoonal rains and flooding.
After attending disaster management meetings in Townsville, and joining Queensland Premier David Crisafulli for a press conference, Mr Albanese’s government jet took off to Brisbane around 2pm on Thursday.
Three hours later, he made an appearance at the campaign launch of Labor candidate for Brisbane, Madonna Jarrett, at the Paddington Tavern.
Labor sources said the Prime Minister had always intended to attend the campaign launch, with invitations issued last month touting a “special guest”.
Mr Albanese was then the star attraction at the fundraiser in the evening, believed to have been held in the boardroom of Labor-aligned law firm Holding Redlich. Sources said verbal invitations had been issued several weeks ago for the $10,000-a-head event.
He flew out of Brisbane late on Thursday night for Alice Springs, where he stayed overnight. On Friday, he announced $842m in funding for remote communities over the next six years.
At a press conference on Friday afternoon in Ballina, northern NSW, Mr Albanese appeared evasive about attending the fundraiser in Brisbane. He would not specifically answer questions about the fundraiser.
“I was there in the floods in Townsville,’’ he said, when asked “why did you fly from Townsville to Brisbane to go to a Labor fundraiser?”
“I visited Brisbane and I launched a campaign in Brisbane.
“I had meetings, formal meetings, and launched a campaign of our candidate for Brisbane, along with our candidates for Griffith and our candidates for Ryan.”
Mr Albanese then refused to answer questions about what were the “other events” in Brisbane.
Sources said the fundraiser had been planned several weeks ago and had been “well attended”.
“A few weeks ago, Labor was calling around for people to stump up the $10,000 for this event,’’ the source said.
“There was no written invitation on this one. But given the calls were going out a while ago, it seems the PM was always going to cut short his parliamentary week so that he could be at the fundraiser.’’
The office of the Prime Minister did not respond to emailed questions from The Weekend Australian about the fundraiser or the campaign launch.
In recent months, Mr Albanese has faced criticism over his attendance at fundraising events.
In December, he went ahead with a planned Labor fundraiser in Perth after an arson attack on a Melbourne synagogue.
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