The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, used a private plane financed by taxpayers to travel to a news event in Tamworth, claiming $ 23,000 in travel expenses to speak at the summit where he criticized the government’s response to the life crisis.

Despite the multiple flight connections daily between Canberra and Tamworth, it is understood that Dutton had a pre -existing commitment, which means that no commercial flight could take it to the annual “Bush Summit” of the Daily Telegraph in August 2023 in time.

The last round of political expenses, published by the Independent Parliamentary Expenditure Authority (IPEA), reveals the expenditure of politicians for the quarter from June to September 2023.

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, was again the best speaker, with $ 911,708 in expenses reported during that quarter, led by $ 646,970 on employee trips and $ 161,259 on international trips. Dutton was not far away, with a total of $ 809,587 in expenses during that quarter, including $ 381,374 on employee trips, $ 96,597 in office expenses and $ 78,330 in office administration.

Albanese’s expenditure for that period included claims for trips to India, Japan, Singapore, Vietnam, Germany, New Zealand and Indonesia, for meetings such as Asean, East Asia, G7, G20 and NATO Cums.

Dutton also claimed $ 199,694 in “Unchanged Commercial Transport”, a category that often includes jet trips to Jet and long taxi rates, instead of “scheduled commercial trips” that includes standard commercial air rates.

The expense of the opposition leader in the unchanging commercial transport was, with much, the highest informed by Ipea in that quarter. The next highest was the leader of the nationals, David Littleproud, who claimed $ 44,339.

Dutton’s claims reported in the quarter from June to September 2023 included trips to the remote regions of Laverton, Leonora and Nhulunbuy in February and May of 2023, visits related to indigenous issues and the voice referendum.

He reported three flights, from Perth to Laverton, then to Leonora, and ended in Adelaida, more than February 20 and 21, reported $ 32,606 for each leg. A Nhulunbuy flight to Archerfield on May 18, where Dutton attended the commemorative service for the indigenous leader Yunupingu, was reported at $ 45,970.

A Canberra flight to Tamworth, on August 11, was claimed at $ 23,300.

Dutton appeared at the Daily Telegraph’s Bush Summit, an annual event focused on regional and rural issues, on August 11.

“Mr. Dutton traveled in a chaired plane from Canberra to Tamworth only, under his right as opposition leader,” said a spokesman for Dutton’s office in a statement.

Dutton also claimed a commercial flight from Tamworth to Sydney later that day, and then to his hometown in Brisbane, indicating that the Charter flight was only taken in one sense.

Qantas operates several commercial flights a day from Canberra to Tamworth, connecting through Sydney. Virgin also operates flights to Tamworth from Canberra, through Brisbane.

It is understood that Dutton had a pre -existing commitment in Canberra, which meant that no commercial flight could take him to Tamworth in time for his appearance at the Bush Summit.

Albanese also appeared at the summit, but the flights of the prime minister, in a VIP plane financed by the government, do not appear in the IPEA reports. The details of more than $ 25 million on those flights for Australian ministers and dignitaries remain secret, with the government citing national security advice so as not to publish those flight records.

An analysis of data from Guardian Australia between 2021 and 2023 for what is known as special purpose flight data shows that the total cost of using defense aircraft has increased to $ 26.6 million during the period, including $ 10.3 million only in 2023. In 2023, Albanese spent more than 750 hours in the air at a cost of almost $ 4.1 million.

The appearance of Albanese at the Bush Summit was received by critical protest groups from the government’s renewable energy policies and an alleged lack of community consultation.

Speaking on stage at the Bush Summit, in front of a big screen that indicated that the event was sponsored by Gina Rinehart Hancock prospecting, Dutton said the cost of living was among its main priorities.

When asked about what his role as the opposition leader saw, Dutton listed “holding the government responsible” on issues such as the cost of living. He also criticized government energy policies as “incredibly expensive” and said that regional and rural Australians were being treated as “second -class citizens.”

In a 2 GB interview, conducted on his way to the airport to travel to Tamworth, Dutton said that the government “was not concentrating on trying to help families and pensioners and self -financed retirees on the issue of life cost.”