Defence Minister Richard Marles hitched a ride on a VIP flight from Brisbane to Sydney and back to attend the Matildas’ August 16 World Cup semi-final that had an estimated cost to taxpayers of $16,000.
However, he has defended the trip as “in accordance with the relevant guidelines and security procedures.”
News.com.au revealed this week that Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles was consulted over the decision to stop publishing where politicians are flying on VIP flights during the same period he personally ran up a $3.6 million bill.
But publicly available flight tracker data has revealed some of the flights – including a RAAF VIP flight that flew to Queensland on the day of the World Cup semi-final.
It picked up passengers in Brisbane at 4.38pm, where Mr Marles and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese attended events ahead of the ALP conference.
A RAAF VIP flight picked up passengers in Sydney at 7.15am the following morning, returning to Brisbane, where Mr Marles attended the ALP conference.
The Defence Minister and his office have declined to reveal whether or not he caught that VIP for two days – despite the fact his attendance at the game and the ALP conference was documented in real-time on social media. Instead, he issued a statement confirming any travel within the rules.
“All travel conducted by the Deputy Prime Minister either in his role as Defence Minister or as Acting Prime Minister is in accordance with the relevant guidelines and security procedures,’’ a spokeswoman said.
Greens Senator David Shoebridge called on Mr Marles to provide a full account of his VIP flights.
“It’s a ridiculous situation when senior government ministers can’t say if they took a VIP jet to the Matildas or not, apparently for security reasons,” he said.
“It’s great to be supporting the Matildas, it’s great to be out and about doing your job, but it’s also great to be open and transparent about the use of very expensive public resources.
“Telling the whole truth is every bit as much about protecting politicians when they do the right thing, as holding them to account when they step over the line.”
Mr Marles, who jokingly resigned as defence minister on that day, handing over the role to Matildas goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold before the match, filmed a video announcing his “resignation” at the ALP conference venue on August 16.
In a video posted to X, previously Twitter, on Wednesday afternoon, Mr Marles appeared stony-faced as he said he had no choice but to relinquish his role.
“Tonight, our nation faces a grave threat, and it comes from the old enemy,” the deputy prime minister said.
“So it is my solemn duty to announce that this afternoon I’m resigning as Australia’s minister for defence. And I am handing my commission to Mackenzie Arnold.
“And I simply ask one thing: tomorrow, can you please give me back the keys.”
Social media posts confirm that on the morning of August 16, Mr Marles also attended a press event at the Gallipoli barracks in Brisbane.
Just hours after Mr Marles’ video was filmed, the Defence Minister posted pictures of the Matildas games and stated that he was “at Sydney stadium” for the match.
The next morning, the RAAF VIP flight jetted out of Sydney at 7.15am according to flight tracker data, with each hour-long light costing an estimated $8,000, a total of $16,000 not including the cost of the empty plane flying Canberra to Sydney.
Mr Marles then attended the ALP conference in Brisbane that morning, where he delivered a speech that was posted on his social media channels.
In recent days, Mr Marles has defended his $3.6 million expenditure on VIP flights and his involvement in the decision to stop publishing where politicians are flying on VIP flights and who is on the passenger manifest.
“Well, all we’ve done in terms of the reporting is taken the advice that we’ve been given in relation to our own security,’’ Mr Marles told ABC radio.
“And we did do a security review about making sure that the information that is put into the public domain is not compromising any person in relation to disclosing patterns of life and behaviour and that’s a standard assessment that’s made in relation to national security.”
Mr Marles, who has previously criticised Bronwyn Bishop for travelling to Geelong on a helicopter, said his travel was very different.
“Well, I think flying in a helicopter from Geelong to Melbourne to attend a political fundraiser is a very different question to the travel of which I’ve been a part,’’ Mr Marles told ABC radio on Friday.
“And every trip I’ve ever taken has been in accordance with guidelines. It’s all been taken in accordance with pursuing my work as Defence Minister, as the Deputy Prime Minister and, on occasions, as the Acting Prime Minister.
“And that work has, at its heart, our national interest. In the context of being Defence Minister clearly, a lot of our interest lies beyond our shores. It is an outward-looking portfolio, and it does require engagement overseas.”
Mr Shoebridge said the new revelations raised fresh questions.
Mr Marles’ office was involved in the original decision to stop publishing VIP plane data.
On November 8, 2022, a staffer in Mr Marles’ office noted that the Defence Minister had “asked the Chief of Air Force to engage with the AFP to review the Special Purpose Aircraft Guidelines”.
“The AFP have provided the below advice, in which they have indicated their preliminary view that the level of detail contained within the SPA report should be reviewed from a security perspective,’’ the email stated.
“Given the below, the Deputy Prime Minister has asked the Chief of Air Force to engage with the AFP to review the SPA Guidelines, with a particular focus on the information contained within the SPA reports.”
The trove of documents also reveals AFP Commander Michael Chew presented a briefing paper to the Security Coordination Group in March of 2023.
It claimed the current guidelines were not “fit for purpose in regards to protecting security sensitivities, including protecting pattern of life data for passengers”.
“The review focused only on security considerations surrounding the special purpose aircraft guidelines and did not address accountability and transparency considerations,’’ Commander Chew stated.
“These are recommended to be addressed by other government mechanisms before the special purpose aircraft guidelines are formalised and publicly released.”
Separately, the Albanese Government has ordered an information blackout on the publication of all parliamentarian’s travel, which will not be cleared until July 2024 following an IT breakdown with the new system.