Editor’s view: Use the jet, but put it to the pub test first

The use of government jets is funded by taxpayers, so it should be held to the same scrutiny as the use of public money. We usually find the best form of scrutiny is the pub test, writes the editor.

Premier Steven Miles used a government jet to make an 11-minute flight from Hervey Bay to Bundaberg where he celebrated his MPs birthday and announced a new school fence. Picture: Liam Kidston

Premiers of this vast state should be entitled to the use of aircraft funded by taxpayers to get around regional Queensland. It is an entirely justifiable perk of office due to our decentralised population.

However, because the use of the jets is funded by taxpayers it should be held to the same scrutiny as the use of public money for anything else. And we usually find the best form of scrutiny is the pub test.

It is a simple test: walk into the front bar of any pub in Queensland and ask the patrons if they think it is appropriate that (insert premier or minister here) uses public money to (insert what they will do here).

Premier Steven Miles’s use of the jet this week to fly from Hervey Bay to Bundaberg – the same distance as North Lakes to Beenleigh – so he could give a birthday cake to the local

Labor MP is a case in point. It simply does not pass that most basic of tests.

Premier Steven Miles posted this photo to Instagram captioned: Surprised @tomsmithmp with a couple of mud cakes for his birthday. Happy birthday mate!

It was the same in April with the government’s decision to use two planes for a multi-day jaunt around the state, simply because the staffers tagging along with the premier and newly installed commissioner for police would not fit on just one. (Pro tip: leave some of them behind.)

Perhaps the problem here is that if you are an MP who has never been in Opposition you know no different: you have never had to schlep to the airport at 4am to catch a commercial flight to connect with the next one that will take you to your day’s destination. You get used to turning up to the government air wing when it suits, and off you go – even if it’s just an 11-minute flight.

Premier Miles will no doubt insist today that this latest flight was entirely justifiable. We urge him to go try that excuse at the local pub.

Originally published as Editor’s view: Use the jet, but put it to the pub test first