Toowoomba Mayor Paul Antonio to fly business class to North America as part of CoMSEQ mission

Mayor Paul Antonio will be flying to the United States and Canada in a matter of months — and his flights have been bumped up to business class at council expense.

TRC Mayor Paul Antonio. Picture: Kevin Farmer

Mayor Paul Antonio is heading overseas again in the coming months, with the council agreeing to bump his flights up to business class at ratepayer expense.

Mr Antonio and an officer will fly to the United States and Canada either in November or early in 2023 as part of a whirlwind delegation with the Council of Mayors Southeast Queensland (CoMSEQ).

The trip to Los Angeles, San Francisco and Vancouver will explore pre and post-Olympic Games strategies (since LA is hosting them in 2028), as well as waste management and resource recovery learnings.

The council said it would also be a chance to promote southeast Queensland ahead of the 2032 Brisbane Games and look at trade opportunities between the two regions.

“Participating in the CoMSEQ North America Mission is an opportunity for council to better understand the requirements for hosting an Olympic Games in the region and the long-term benefit for the community,” the report by acting economic development principal Tony Bowman said.

“It will provide learnings on waste management, transport planning and foster improved collaboration between CoMSEQ councils.”

While CoMSEQ had agreed to fund the mayor’s economy-class flights, Mr Bowman and comments from councillors suggested the mayor and the officer fly business class.

While costs have not been finalised since final dates have not been set, business-class return flights from Brisbane to LA range from $8000 to $10,000 each.

“Our CoMSEQ representative, the mayor, will be covered for economy airfares,” Mr Bowman said.

“What we propose is we upgrade the mayor’s fares to business class and find out if the council would like to send an officer with him.”

Councillor Carol Taylor agreed with the upgrade.

“The role of an elected member is to press the flesh, so it’s important we have a professional staff member there to assist with that,” she said.

“I do support the upgrade, because it’s a long way to sit cramped.”

Councillor Kerry Shine suggested the portion of the trip in Vancouver included a visit to the Queen Elizabeth Quarry Gardens, which is one of the models for Toowoomba’s own quarry gardens proposal.

A suggestion was raised for the mayor to also tack on a visit to Weatherford, Texas to meet with elected officials, due to a number of local businesses now having a presence in the town.

But deputy mayor Geoff McDonald reminded the council that Toowoomba and Surat Basin Enterprise was planning its own delegation to Weatherford soon.