By Kishor Napier-Raman and Noel Towell
Opponents of a Voice to parliament frequently label its backers as elitist, out of touch, Canberra bubble types.
Credit: John Shakespeare
But we can think of few things more elitist and Canberra than Country Liberals senator and leading No campaigner Jacinta Nampijinpa Price billing taxpayers $76,509.19 for 76 business-class flights between her election last May and July 2023.
She spent 67 nights in hotels, in the same period, at a cost of $19,062, according to data released under freedom of information laws.
Now, Price is fully entitled to taxpayer-funded travel while performing her parliamentary duties. And as a senator for the Northern Territory, that travel involves covering more distance than most. Her predecessor, Sam McMahon, was frequently parliament’s biggest spender on travel and accommodation.
But not even McMahon, who racked up about $18,000 worth of airline bills in her last nine months as a senator (the only data still publicly available) flew at the rate Price did. By comparison, Nationals leader David Littleproud, whose regional Queensland electorate of Maranoa is one of the vastest in the country, took $42,000 worth of taxpayer-funded flights in his final year as agriculture minister.
Price has clearly been travelling a lot – and as one of the faces of the No campaign, she’s been all over the country fighting against the proposed Voice to parliament. According to her parliamentary disclosures, some of this travel and accommodation is covered by conservative anti-Voice activists.
So did Price also use taxpayer-funded flights to campaign against the Voice?
A spokesman from her office said: “As a senator for the Northern Territory and shadow for Indigenous Australia who also lives in Alice Springs, the senator is required to travel extensively. The senator’s travel is in accordance with IPEA requirements.”
OK then. So, are Yes campaigners claiming campaign flights on the public dime? We’re checking that one out so watch this space.
LOUNGE LIZARDS
Over the past few weeks, we’ve heard plenty of bipartisan rage from across the political class towards the privatised “national” airline Qantas and its treatments of customers.
But less common have been sightings of politicians putting their privileges where their mouths are and refusing their memberships of the carrier’s exclusive chairman’s lounge, the airline’s airport bolthole for the rich and influential.
Labor’s Tony Sheldon and baby-faced Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather have declined to take up the offer. Recently, rookie Greens Elizabeth Watson Brown and Stephen Bates both dropped their access to the swanky lounges, and we can reveal teal independent Monique Ryan has also un-joined the club.
Ryan – who was clocking up good numbers on Tuesday with a TikTok video outlining her call for punters to be compensated by airlines for cancelled flights – reckons membership is inconsistent with the lobbying bill she’s introducing this year.
Fair play, we say, while casting our eye around for who else might be next to depart the lounge.
Not Nationals deputy leader Bridget McKenzie, chair of the parliamentary committee looking at the murky matter of those Qatar airlines flights that never were. She was in fine form on ABC’s Radio National on Tuesday morning, ripping into both Qantas and the Albanese government who she reckons is running a “protection racket” for the airline.
But McKenzie’s people told us later that the senator would continue to feel free to criticise Qantas and would remain a member of the chairman’s lounge for as long as it would have her.
PRESELECTION PAYNES
Liberal stalwart Marise Payne’s retirement has opened up a world of jostling for her vacant Senate seat. But don’t expect it to be filled just yet. Nominations open on Wednesday and close on October 4, with the preselection finalised on the final weekend of November, according to a draft timeline due to be ratified by the party’s state executive.
That leaves plenty of time for leading No campaigner Warren Mundine to reverse his fortunes. A frontrunner last week, Mundine’s recent comments supporting treaties and a change to the date of Australia Day saw his support evaporate almost overnight.
A victory for the No camp would revitalise Mundine’s sixth shot at state or federal parliament, but if the Voice somehow gets up, his chances are pretty slim.
Meanwhile, former NSW transport minister Andrew Constance is likely to have another crack, despite his fellow moderates worrying about this creating an intra-factional preselection fight with recent Senator Maria Kovacic a few years down the line.
There’s even been rumours about former premier Dom Perrottet, who used to harbour ambitions about jumping over to the Senate, having a crack. While he’d certainly have the numbers, they’re just that – rumours.
STAR POWER
Anti-union ideas factory the HR Nicholls Society hasn’t had a proper full-fledged conference since 2012, but with the Albanese government’s reformist zeal let loose, the gang is getting back together with an event at North Sydney’s View Hotel in November.
So far the only speaker announced is shadow treasurer Angus Taylor. While we’re not doubting Taylor’s ability to pull a crowd we did wonder where the razzle-dazzle factor was coming from.
While giving nothing away, the society’s industrious president Louise Staley made it clear she was planning a show not to be missed, with plenty of “razzmatazz”.
We suggested a couple of names who have recently made their mark in industrial relations – Melbourne developer and bio-hacker Tim Gurner, or recently departed Qantas CEO Alan Joyce.
No dice. “I’m sure Tim won’t be there, and I hadn’t thought about inviting Alan,” Staley said.