Television icon Kerri-Anne Kennerley has savaged the federal sports minister for spending $20,000 of taxpayers’ money on a private jet to attend an obscure ice hockey game.
Her denunciation of Nationals deputy leader Bridget McKenzie came a day after Daily Mail Australia revealed she ran up a huge travel bill to fly from Rockhampton in central Queensland to Melbourne in May last year.
Kennerley described as ‘insane’ the $19,942 cost of flying the senior cabinet minister 1,700km when a commercial flight would have cost just $614.
Sports Minister Bridget McKenzie’s (right) 1,700km flight so she could watch the Melbourne Mustangs ice hockey team cost taxpayers $19,942
‘How can people think it’s okay?,’ she said on Network Ten’s Studio 10 program on Thursday.
‘It’s insane that she’s spending this money. I’m outraged.’
Fellow Studio 10 personality Sarah Harris queried how money could just be ‘thrown against the wall’.
‘We pay a lot of tax in this country,’ that’s the most galling thing,’ she said.
Australian television legend Kerri-Anne Kennerley has savaged the federal sports minister for spending $20,000 of taxpayers’ money on a private jet to attend an obscure ice hockey game
Fellow Studio 10 personality Sarah Harris queried how money could just be ‘thrown against the wall’
Senator McKenzie, who also holds the sports portfolio, had been in Rockhampton last year for Beef Week when she decided to fly to Melbourne to watch a game of ice hockey, which only has a small following in Australia.
The minister’s 1,700km direct flight to the Victorian capital in May 2018, so she could watch the Melbourne Mustangs, cost taxpayers $19,942, Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority data showed.
An equivalent commercial flight with Virgin Australia or Qantas from Rockhampton to Melbourne, with a stop-over in Brisbane, would have cost just $614 – or 32 times less than a chartered RAAF military jet.
In addition to the $19,942 flight, taxpayers also stumped up another $500 in Commonwealth car bills to get her from Melbourne’s Essendon airport for special flights, taking the cost of her chartered transport from Rockhampton to Melbourne to $20,442.
Cabinet minister Bridget McKenzie (centre in May 2018) spent $20,000 of taxpayers’ money taking a private jet from Rockhampton to to an ice hockey game in Melbourne
Senator McKenzie even tweeted about attendance in Melbourne to see an ice hockey match with former Australian Olympic Committee official Geoff Henke
Senator McKenzie’s one-day travel bill cost taxpayers the equivalent of three months’ wages for an Australian worker on an average full-time salary of $82,400.
The minister even tweeted about her attendance at O’Brien Group Arena in Melbourne’s Docklands area with 92-year-old former Australian ice hockey player and Australian Olympic Committee official Geoff Henke.
‘At the Henke Rink with the man himself Geoff Henke watching local Melbourne derby match,’ she announced on May 11, 2018.
Before flying to Melbourne, Senator McKenzie had been in Rockhampton, in the ultra-marginal Nationals seat of Capricornia, for Beef Week events with the local member Michelle Landry.
Senator McKenzie’s (left with Geoff Henke) one-day travel bill cost taxpayers the equivalent of three months’ wages for an Australian worker on an average full-time salary of $82,400
The minister’s spokesman said a charter flight was chosen because no commercial flights were available for an urgent meeting in Melbourne.
‘As the minister had an urgent meeting with the Australian Sports Commission Board and others in Melbourne on 11 May, 2018, a charter was required as there was no commercial flights available to support these official commitments,’ he told Daily Mail Australia on Wednesday.
Despite the expense of the Rockhampton to Melbourne flight, the minister’s spokesman insisted ‘multiple quotes’ were obtained to ‘find the most cost and time efficient use of travel’.
‘The minister respects the importance of keeping all travelling costs to a minimum while allowing her to fully and properly undertake her responsibilities,’ he said.
Senator McKenzie (right with Prime Minister Scott Morrison) insisted through her spokesman she respected ‘the importance of keeping all travelling costs to a minimum’
The minister’s office claimed the Melbourne venue for Australian Sports Commission’s urgent meeting was designed to save money.
‘The meeting time also allowed the majority of meeting participants from Canberra to return to Canberra on the last flight and not require overnight accommodation and the associated extra travel costs,’ her spokesman said.
Senator McKenzie’s May flight from Rockhampton to Melbourne wasn’t the first time she had billed the Australian people tens of thousands of dollars.
A month earlier, she charged taxpayers $14,000 for a charter flight from the Gold Coast to Cairns to watch a basketball game with Prince Charles.
In April, Senator McKenzie (left) charged taxpayers $14,000 for a charter flight from the Gold Coast to Cairns to watch a basketball game with Prince Charles (second right)
Daily Mail Australia revealed in September the Victorian senator had taken this ‘unscheduled’ flight in April 2018 from south-east to far north Queensland so she could sit in the front row, two spots away from the prince at the Commonwealth Games.
A similar, non-stop, two-and-a-half hour Jetstar flight would have cost just $221, or 63 times less than the $13,955 she charged taxpayers.
Last year, Senator McKenzie’s office said she took this ‘unscheduled’ flight was so she could represent then prime minister Malcolm Turnbull in Cairns as Prince Charles visited far north Queensland.
‘The minister was asked to represent the Government in Cairns and host His Royal Highness,’ a spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia.
Senator McKenzie (left with local MP Michelle Landry) had been in Rockhampton, in the ultra-marginal Nationals seat of Capricornia, for Beef Week events before charging taxpayers $14,000 for a Melbourne flight
Senator McKenzie’s one-day travel bill cost taxpayers the equivalent of three months’ wages for an Australian worker on an average full-time salary of $82,400
An equivalent commercial flight with Virgin Australia or Qantas from Rockhampton to Melbourne would have cost just $614 – or 32 times less than a chartered RAAF military jet