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 portraying the prime minister as ‘Airbus Albo’ because of his intensive travel schedule.
The large opposition delegation traveled from October 28 to November 1 to an international meeting of conservative politicians called the ‘Alliance for Responsible Citizenship’.
About 16 percent of the Coalition party room and 26.7 percent of the front bench made the 17,000 kilometer journey from Australia.
Mr Albanese has been roundly criticized by the opposition, who have adopted the nickname ‘Airbus Albo’, with Peter Dutton calling on the Prime Minister to scrap his fourth trip in a month to the APEC summit in San Francisco last week.
But Patrick Gorman, the prime minister’s assistant minister, told Ny Breaking Australia that Mr Albanese’s trips were easier to justify than the huge delegation that traveled to Britain to hear Jordan Peterson speak and make their own speeches for conservative figures from around the world. .
“The Albanian government is working hard to repair our international relations after a decade of mismanagement,” Gorman said.
“It is difficult to see how more than a quarter of the Coalition frontbench, traveling on the dime of foreign billionaires and foreign hedge funds, is in Australia’s national interest.”
A large delegation of opposition MPs 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 Jordan Peterson and others and gave their own speeches to thousands of guests from all over the world
Mr Albanese has made 20 trips in the 19 months since he got the top job.
But at a time when ordinary Australians are struggling to pay their mortgages and rent, can’t fill their petrol tanks and interest rates are soaring, the prospects for the trips are far from ideal.
He is not the first Prime Minister to be criticized for their travels. Kevin Rudd was nicknamed ‘Kevin 747’ in his day because of his enormous mileage.
In reality, Mr Albanese has made a similar number of trips to both Scott Morrison and Tony Abbott in each of their first 12 months on the job.
A Labor insider described Dutton’s criticism of Albanese’s trip to APEC – even though only one prime minister has ever canceled the summit due to a death in the family – as a “disingenuous and, frankly, base attempt to stoke outrage ‘.
Labor politicians, including Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, rushed to Mr Albanese’s defense, saying the government had “made no apologies for our engagement with the world”.
“What we inherited when we came to power in May this year were the worst conditions in terms of our global relations that this country has ever faced.
‘We had the situation with our largest trading partner where there was no contact whatsoever. There was no formal defense dialogue at all with the country whose security we have the greatest concerns about.’
Alex Antic was one of the notable guests at the event
Former Liberal Julian Leeser – who resigned as Minister for Shadow Indigenous Australians during the Voice referendum debate – was also among those present
Shadow Home Secretary James Paterson is a coalition senator who has been critical of Mr Albanese’s decision to attend APEC and let his government pass legislation in his absence last week.
Mr Paterson described the APEC trip last week – which took place as the government rushed to address a landmark Supreme Court ruling that released more than 80 asylum seekers – as an “abdication of responsibility”.
But Mr Paterson has also said repeatedly that he personally “strongly supports the need for the Prime Minister to travel internationally at these times of increased strategic competition”.
“We need a seat at the table, but he should not have left the country until this matter was resolved. He should have used the time he had while he was in the country to ensure that these robust protections for the community passed.
‘He didn’t do that. That is a failure of leadership from the Prime Minister. That is an abdication of responsibility. He shouldn’t be allowed to fly away while criminals can walk freely on the streets.’
According to Senator Paterson’s register of interests, he has spent 34 days on foreign trips in the past 12 months, citing six separate international visits.
Mr Paterson was one of 14 MPs and Senators to attend the ARC summit, alongside 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 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 travel of each of the parliamentarians present.
Mr Paterson’s register of interests shows he traveled to Honolulu, Washington, Singapore, California, New York, Tokyo and London 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 division and drift within conservatism.”
Mr Paterson’s register of interests shows he traveled to Honolulu, Washington, Singapore, California, New York, Tokyo and London in his role as shadow home secretary.
And former Prime Minister Morrison made four separate statements about the trip and subsequent travels on the other side of the world.
Mr Morrison was gifted return flights and business class accommodation to attend ARC from October 28 to November 1.
He spent another day in London as a guest of the Royal Over-Seas League, and was then flown – again business class – to Edinburgh to host a discussion panel at the University of St Andrews on the ‘politics, economics and leadership of Australia’. ‘.
The whirlwind trip didn’t end there for Mr Morrison, who was then given a private charter flight back to Tel Aviv, with accommodation and security as a guest of Boris Johnson, Britain’s former prime minister.
The Prime Minister is now back in Australia. He shared a photo from Canberra of a cabinet meeting on Monday morning.