CLP clears the air on flying

Political Reporter

ALL government officials will be made to fly economy class if the CLP takes government — with no exceptions.

Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro, who will reveal the policy today, said business class travel would no longer be funded by taxpayers if the CLP get in next Saturday, in a bid to save money.

Under existing entitlements, MLAs can travel business class and get taxpayers to pay for it.

“A new Country Liberal government will walk the talk and demonstrate to Territorians that it recognises the record level of debt, and that savings can be made on taxpayer-funded travel,” Ms Finocchiaro said.

“I will set the example from the top. I will only ever travel in economy class.”

Under the CLP plan, taxpayer-funded organisations registered in the NT, such as councils and university, will be “strongly encouraged” to follow suit.

Ms Finocchiaro said the measure came in addition to the CLP’s plan to hold departmental heads to account for spending — or risk getting the boot.

It is unknown, however, if the CLP will bring back the need for NT politicians to publicly report their taxpayerfunded travel.

In early 2018, in exchange for having their allowance cut from $15,000 a year to $10,000, MLAs no longer needed to get approval for domestic trips or to report the actual costs to parliament.

International travel by NT ministers is meant to be publicly available and posted to the Department of Chief Minister’s website, although this has not been reported since mid-2019.