The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions and three senior members of the Office of National Assessments have revealed they are members of the exclusive Qantas Chairman's Lounge - and almost always fly with that airline.
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Director of Public Prosecutions Sarah McNaughton told a Senate estimates committee in May one member of the agency was a member of the invite-only Chairman's Lounge, and a spokesperson for the Director of Public Prosecutions has confirmed that staff member is the director herself.
In information given to the Senate committee, the agency reported Ms McNaughton had used $19,424 of travel with Qantas between July 1 2017 and May 24, and just $575 with Virgin in the same period. A spokesperson defended the spending based on the flexibility of travelling Qantas between Sydney and Canberra, with the lowest practical fare of the day, departure time, routing and connections also key considerations.
"With respect to the director’s travel, timing and flexibility is a very significant factor when choosing travel," the spokesperson said.
"Nearly half the director’s air travel was between Sydney and Canberra at economy class, where flexibility and timing are the paramount factor. For the remainder of flights, 74 per cent were the lowest fare of the day. Furthermore, on at least two occasions, the director travelled by bus between Sydney and Canberra."
The Office of National Assessments has also reported three of its officials are members of the Chairman's Lounge, but are not also members of the Virgin equivalent The Club. Of the three, one official had flown Qantas 10 times in the 2016-17 financial year, and Virgin just two times. Another had flown only Qantas for five trips and another had used Qantas six times, and Virgin just twice.
The Office of National Assessments declined to answer questions about which officials were members of the Chairman's Lounge and whether their travel had been the lowest fare accepted. A spokesperson only said "ONA's official travel is undertaken in line with whole-of-government travel arrangements".
Centre Alliance senator Rex Patrick has pushed for departments and agencies to reveal how often public servants use each of the major carriers in a bid to ensure the government's policy on choosing the lowest practical fare for official travel is enforced.
"Every time an official departs from the lowest practical fare, the taxpayer takes a hit," he said.
"The government needs to closely examine how lounge memberships, be it complimentary or otherwise, influence officials' air travel choices."
"Within reason, I do not mind officials using a preferred airline, but they must personally pay the difference in fare price."
Members of parliament, senior government officials and business leaders are commonly invited to be members of Qantas' Chairman's Lounge and Virgin's The Club, invitation-only clubs with access to lounges not available to other members. Other departments have declared senior officials are members of both clubs due to their positions.
Between July 1 2017 and March 31, $436.5 million has been spent on government travel, both domestic and international. In the past financial year the travel bill for the whole of government was more than half a billion dollars. Just over $200 million was spent on Qantas domestic flights last year, and $61 million on Virgin domestically.
