$4k bill for whale-watching trip

Taxpayers have forked out almos­t $4000 for Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young and her daughter to go whale watching.

A picture from Senator Sarah Hanson-Young's Facebook page of her taxpayer-funded whale-watching trip

Taxpayers have forked out almos­t $4000 for Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young and her daughter to go whale watching in the Great Australian Bight.

The South Australian senator, who wants a ban on oil and gas explorat­ion in the Bight, took the overnight trip last September at a cost to taxpayers of $3874.24.

This came after veteran environ­mentalist and former Greens leader Bob Brown had just returned from the area.

At the time of Senator Hanson­-Young’s trip, the Bight was already included in Australia’s federal marine reserve network, with the government having concluded it was a “globall­y important seasonal calving habitat for the threatened southern right whale”.

Senator Hanson-Young yesterday said the “whole point” of the trip, charged to the public purse as “electorate business”, was to “see the whales”.

“Of course I went to see the whales, that was the whole point,” she said. “These whales were at threat from BP and those that want to drill for oil, and want to damage their whale sanctuary.”

In the days after the trip, Senat­or Hanson-Young posted photos on her Facebook page at the Head of Bight whale centre, along with plates of fresh oysters, relaxed selfies and photos of her 10-year-old daughter admiring sunsets and whales. One of her Facebook friends posted a comment that said: “How relaxed are you, stunning selfie ...”

Senator Hanson-Young said she took her daughter along becaus­e she was sick on September 7, and “I didn’t have anyone that could look after her at home”.

Return flights for mother and daughter from Adelaide to Ceduna­ cost $1875.

Finance Department records showed Senator Hanson-Young claimed $268 in travelling allowance in the small settlement of Coorabie, 945km west of Adelaide, where construction of helicopter landing facilities began in 2015 to serve a now-shelved BP oil exploration project.

Hire car costs were $317.52, while taxpayers covered the $1292.52 cost of a charter. Comcar expenses of $120 were also claimed.

Parliamentary travel rules allow a senator to claim “the hire of charter aircraft and other vehic­les for travel within and for the service of the electorate”. The rules also allow for a senator to be accompanied by his or her spouse, staff, and other senators and MPs, and others if a larger aircraft/vehicle is not required.

Senator Hanson-Young is entitled­ to claim $14,860 a year in such costs.

A dependent child of a senator is allowed to travel at taxpayers' expense on trips within the senat­or’s home state and travel “may be at any class”.

“The point is I went all for work. Yes my daughter accompanied me, because she was sick that day,” Senator Hanson-Young said yesterday.

“There is an entitlement for it, and it was all for work. I was abso­lutely not in breach of any rules.”

She took the trip to “consult with the community about BP’s plans to drill for oil”.

“My days were full of meetings with constituents and business owners, local councils.”

At the time of the trip she was pushing to restart Senate committ­ee hearings that had lapsed during the election, to investig­ate BP’s plans.

A month later BP announced it would not proceed, despite having spent $1 billion on a purpose-built rig, the Ocean Great White.

Last month Statoil, Norway’s national oil company and the junior­ partner in BP’s failed bid, revived the plan, revealing that it had taken 100 per cent of the project­ in an asset swap.