EXCLUSIVE
The Coalition allowed 14 MPs and senators, including more than a quarter of Peter Dutton’s front bench, to travel to a summit in London weeks before criticizing the prime minister as “Airbus Albo” for his busy travel schedule.
The large opposition delegation traveled to an international meeting of conservative politicians called the “Alliance for Responsible Citizenship” from October 28 to November 1.
About 16 per cent of the Coalition’s party room members and 26.7 per cent of its front bench made the 17,000 kilometer journey from Australia.
Albanese has been heavily criticized by the opposition, which has adopted the nickname “Airbus Albo”, and Peter Dutton called on the prime minister to cancel his fourth trip in a month to the APEC summit in San Francisco last week.
But Patrick Gorman, a deputy minister to the Prime Minister, told Daily Mail Australia that Albanese’s trips were easier to justify than the huge delegation that traveled to the UK to hear Jordan Peterson speak and give his own speeches to conservative figures across the country. the world. .
“The Albanese Government is working hard to restore our international relations after a decade of mismanagement,” Gorman said.
“It is difficult to see how more than a quarter of Coalition members traveling on money from foreign billionaires and foreign hedge funds is in Australia’s national interest.”
A large delegation of opposition deputies and senators attended the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship event, a gathering of international conservative politicians, from October 28 to November 1.
Politicians listened to lectures by people like Jordan Peterson and gave their own speeches to thousands of guests from around the world.
Albanese has made 20 trips in the 19 months since he landed the top job.
But at a time when ordinary Australians are struggling to pay their mortgages and rents, can’t fill their gas tanks and interest rates are soaring, travel optics haven’t been ideal.
He is not the first prime minister to be criticized for his travels. Kevin Rudd once earned the nickname ‘Kevin 747’ for his enormous mileage.
In reality, Albanese has made a similar number of trips to both Scott Morrison and Tony Abbott in each of his first 12 months in the job.
A Labor pundit described Dutton’s criticism of Albanese’s APEC trip – despite only one prime minister having canceled the summit due to a death in the family – as an “unfair and, frankly, base attempt to incite outrage.” “.
Labor politicians, including Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, rushed to defend Albanese, saying the government “made no apologies for the fact that we are engaging with the world”.
‘What we inherited when we came to power in May this year were the worst circumstances in terms of our global relations that this country has ever faced.
‘We had a situation with our largest trading partner in which there was no contact at all. “There was no formal defense dialogue with the country that worries us most in terms of security.”
Alex Antic was among the featured guests of the event
Former Liberal leader Julian Leeser, who resigned as shadow Indigenous Australians minister during the Voice referendum debate, was also among those in attendance.
Shadow Home Affairs Minister James Paterson is a coalition senator who criticized Albanese’s decision to attend APEC and let his government pass the legislation in his absence last week.
Last week, Paterson described APEC’s trip, which came as the government rushed to address a landmark High Court decision that freed more than 80 asylum seekers, as an “abdication of responsibility.”
But Mr Paterson has also repeatedly said that he personally “strongly supports the need for the Prime Minister to travel internationally in these times of increased strategic competition”.
‘We need a seat at the table, but he should not have left the country until this matter has been resolved. He should have used the time he had while he was in the country to make sure these strong community protections were passed.
‘He hasn’t. This is a lack of leadership on the part of the Prime Minister. That is an abdication of responsibility. He shouldn’t leave while criminals are still free to roam the streets.
According to Senator Paterson’s record of interests, he has spent 34 days in the last 12 months traveling abroad, citing six separate international visits.
Paterson was one of 14 MPs and senators who attended the ARC summit, along with former Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Angus Taylor, Barnaby Joyce and Julian Leeser.
Alex Antic, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, Andrew Hastie, Matt Canavan, Dan Tehan and Anne Webster were also among the Coalition guests, as were Henry Pike, Garth Hamilton and David Fawcett.
The Alliance for Responsible Citizenship is the brainchild of psychologist Jordan Peterson and is described as a center-right structure to “replace…the division and drift within conservatism.”
ARC has two shareholders: British billionaire Sir Paul Marshall and Dubai-based investment group Legatum Ventures. The organization financed the trip of each of the parliamentarians who attended.
Mr Paterson’s register of interests reveals that he traveled to Honolulu, Washington, Singapore, California, New York, Tokyo and London during the 47th Parliament in his role as shadow home secretary.
The Alliance for Responsible Citizenship is the brainchild of psychologist Jordan Peterson and is described as a center-right structure to “replace…the division and drift within conservatism.”
Mr Paterson’s register of interests reveals that he traveled to Honolulu, Washington, Singapore, California, New York, Tokyo and London during the 47th Parliament in his role as shadow home secretary.
And former Prime Minister Morrison made four separate statements about the trip and subsequent travel while on the other side of the world.
Mr Morrison was provided with a return business class flight ticket and accommodation to attend ARC from 28 October to 1 November.
He spent another day in London as a guest of the Royal Over-Seas League, and then flew (again in business class) to Edinburgh to host a panel discussion at the University of St Andrews on “politics, economics and Australia’s leadership. ‘.
The whirlwind trip did not end there for Morrison, who was later gifted a private charter flight back to Tel Aviv, with accommodation and security as a guest of Boris Johnson, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
The Prime Minister is now back in Australia. He shared a photo from Canberra on Monday morning of a Cabinet meeting.
International trips made by PM
Anthony Albanese has been criticized for his trips abroad. Watch how they stack up.
The record for most foreign trips by a Prime Minister during their first 12 months in office was set by Kevin Rudd in 2008, but was later equaled by Tony Abbott and surpassed by Scott Morrison.
Antonio Albanese
2022
Japan (May 23 – 25)
Indonesia (June 5 – 7)
United Arab Emirates (June 27)
Spain (June 27 – July 1)
France (July 1 – 2)
Ukraine (July 3 – 4)
Fiji (July 13 – 14)
United Kingdom (September 16 – 20)
Japan (September 26 – 28)
Cambodia (November 11 – 14)
Indonesia (November 14 – 17)
Thailand (November 17 – 19)
2023
Papua New Guinea (January 12 – 13)
India (March 8 – 11)
United States (March 11 – 14)
Fiji (March 15)
United Kingdom (May 3 – 6)
Japan (May 19 – 21)
Singapore (June 1 – 2)
Vietnam (June 3 – 4)
Germany (July 10)
Lithuania (July 11 – 12)
New Zealand (July 26 – 27)
Indonesia (September 6 – 7)
Philippines (September 7 – 8)
India (September 9 – 10)
United States (October 23 – 26)
China (November 4 – 7)
Cook Islands (November 8 – 11)
United States (November 15 – 18)
Scott Morrison
2018
Indonesia (August 31 – September 1)
Singapore (November 13 – 15)
Papua New Guinea (November 17 – 19)
Argentina (November 30 – December 2)
Iraq (December 20)
2019
Vanuatu (January 15 – 16)
Fiji (January 17 – 18)
New Zealand (February 22)
New Zealand (March 29)
Solomon Islands (June 2 – 3)
United Kingdom (June 4 – 6)
Singapore (June 7)
Japan (June 27 – 29)
Tuvalu (August 14 – 16)
Vietnam (August 22 – 24)
France (August 24 – 26)
East Timor (August 30 – 31)
United States (September 19 to 27)
Fiji (11 – 12 October)
Indonesia (October 19 – 20)
Thailand (November 3 – 4)
United States (December 16 – 21)
2020
Japan (November 17 – 18)
2021
New Zealand (May 30 – 31)
Singapore (June 10)
United Kingdom (June 11 – 15)
France (June 15)
United States (September 21 – 27)
Italy (October 30 – 31)
United Kingdom (November 1 – 2)
While Albanese’s extensive itinerary has attracted the most attention since Kevin Rudd was dubbed ‘Kevin 747’, evidence suggests he is actually no more jet-setting than his predecessors.