'Resign and repay the money': Calls for minister Bridget McKenzie to return $20,000 to taxpayers after taking a private jet to watch an obscure ice hockey game
- Sports Minister Bridget McKenzie's flight to Melbourne cost taxpayers $20,000
- She flew on RAAF plane from Rockhampton, Queensland for an ice hockey game
- Minister's spokesman said no commercial flights were available for a meeting
- Labor senator Kimberley Kitching has called for Senator McKenzie to resign
A Labor senator has demanded the resignation of Sports Minister Bridget McKenzie for charging taxpayers $20,000 for a private jet to watch an ice hockey game.
Senator McKenzie, who is also deputy Nationals leader, ran up a huge taxpayer bill in May last year so she could fly direct from Rockhampton to Melbourne aboard a RAAF military plane.
The 1,700km flight from an ultra-marginal seat in central Queensland to the Victorian capital, so the minister could watch the Melbourne Mustangs play, cost the public purse $19,942 with taxpayers also footing a $500 Commonwealth car bill to get her from the airport.
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Sports Minister Bridget McKenzie charged taxpayers almost $20,000 she could fly direct from Rockhampton in central Queensland to Melbourne aboard a RAAF military plane
Labor senator Kimberley Kitching called for her resignation on Twitter, after Daily Mail Australia exposed the cost of the minister's RAAF flight from central Queensland to Melbourne
Victorian Labor senator Kimberley Kitching called for her resignation on Twitter, after Daily Mail Australia exposed the cost of the minister's RAAF flight from Rockhampton to Melbourne.
'Bridget McKenzie should express regret, repay and resign,' she told her 12,800 social media followers this week.
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Senator Kitching compared Senator McKenzie to sacked former health minister Sussan Ley, who bought a Gold Coast apartment in 2015 during a ministerial trip, and former Speaker Bronwyn Bishop, who in 2015 charged taxpayers $5,000 for a helicopter flight from Melbourne to attend a Liberal Party fundraiser in Geelong.
'Just like rorters of the past,' she said.
Senator Kitching likened Senator McKenzie to executed 18th century French queen Marie Antoinette, calling on Prime Minister Scott Morrison to send her to the 'ministerial guillotine'
Senator Kitching also likened Senator McKenzie to executed 18th century French queen Marie Antoinette, and called on Prime Minister Scott Morrison to sack her.
'It's time for Scott Morrison to finally show some leadership and send Bridget McKenzie to the ministerial guillotine,' she told Daily Mail Australia on Friday.
Senator Kitching said Senator McKenzie could have caught a commercial flight for much less if her office had better organised her diary to avoid lumping taxpayers with a $20,000 bill.
'There's a lot of Australians who would be disgusted by that level of expenditure,' she said.
The Prime Minister's office has declined to comment on Senator McKenzie's case to Daily Mail Australia, prompting Senator Kitching's call for Mr Morrison to at least counsel his minister over her exorbitant travel bill.
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
'There is a statement of ministerial standards and the Prime Minister is responsible for that,' Senator Kitching said.
'He can't pretend that he's not responsible for this minister's extravagant spending just like he pretends he played no role in the knifing of Malcolm Turnbull.'
Senator McKenzie's 1,700km direct flight to the Victorian capital, so she could watch the Melbourne Mustangs ice hockey team, 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.
Senator Kitching compared Bridget McKenzie to disgraced former speaker Bronwyn Bishop (left) and sacked health minister Sussan Ley, who both abused their travel entitlements
Bridget McKenzie's spokesman said the minister charged taxpayers for the $20,000 flight because a commercial service wasn't available at short notice
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.
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.
Senator McKenzie 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.
Senator McKenzie even tweeted about attendance in Melbourne to see an ice hockey match with former Australian Olympic Committee official Geoff Henke
She had flown to Melbourne after visiting Rockhampton, in the ultra-marginal Nationals seat of Capricornia, for Beef Week events with the local member Michelle Landry.
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.
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
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.
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.
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)
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.
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
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