Australia’s small fortune spent on koala diplomacy
IT IS an open secret that rolling out the red carpet for heads of state can be an expensive affair, with champagne, charm and fine dining deployed to grease the wheels of diplomacy.
But Tony Abbott, the former Australian prime minister, has been excoriated by his political rivals after it was claimed he once spent 24,000 Australian dollars (£12,500) in taxpayers’ money so that Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, could hug a koala.
A booklet published online by his Labor rivals claims Mr Abbott’s party has wracked up 400,000 dollars (£210,000) on photo opportunities with the creatures during diplomatic visits. The report also accuses Julie Bishop, the ruling Liberal party’s foreign affairs minister, of paying 133,000 dollars to fly four koalas out to Singapore zoo in an attempt to improve Australia’s relationship with the island.
Ms Bishop treated foreign diplomats to a 62,500-dollar-a-day tour of Kangaroo Island and splashed out 150,000 dollars on a trip to Western Australia, “where they hugged wombats for a change”, it also claimed.
“Tony Abbott is no stranger to this,” said the opposition’s waste spokesman Pat Conroy. “He was talking about shirt-fronting [ Vladimir] Putin but in the end he spent $24,000 to let him hug a koala. Diplomacy has a role and soft power is very important, but you’ve got to get the balance right.”
Mr Putin is not the only head of state to receive the koala treatment. Angela Merkel and Barack Obama have also had photo opportunities with the cuddly animals during state visits.
The report went on to criticise the government for allegedly spending 79,000 dollars on a media training course for Australian Border Force executives, while the attorney general, George Brandis, was singled out for spending 16,000 dollars on bookshelves and 6,000 dollars on a water taxi ride through Venice.
Mr Brandis has defended the water taxi, saying the trip was organised by the Australian embassy in Italy. The Immigration Department said media training courses were commonplace.
Australia’s foreign ministry is yet to respond to the claims in the report.