In just two weeks Aussie families will be slugged with a carbon tax to pay for a ‘green utopia’.
But where is this money really going? And are our carbon tax bureaucrats practicing what they preach?
We did a little digging, and discovered what many long suspected: While Aussie families are struggling, bureaucrats are living the high life and travelling to exotic destinations at our expense.
Documents released to the Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance under Freedom of Information laws revealed that bureaucrats in the Department of Climate change flew 6,528,616km last financial year, costing us a staggering $3,274,286.40!
And while these very people are lecturing us to act like we’re back in the dark ages the carbon emissions of these flights equal over 1000 tonnes!
The hypocrisy is staggering – it’s one rule for them, and another rule for us. No wonder they are happy to slug airlines with the carbon tax – they don’t have to pay the bill!
So where were they flying to?
None other than the holiday resorts of Cancun, Vanuatu, Maiami, Fiji, The Maldives, Grenada, Maimi, Barcelona… Must be tough having to travel to places like the Caribbean & South Pacific all the time…
The actions of Department staff make one thing clear: the carbon tax isn’t about the environment, it’s about squeezing taxpayers for their own benefit.
And of course, it’s only the best in luxury travel for our bureaucrats – no expense is spared! Many of these flights cost the taxpayers up to ten times what an online economy class ticket would cost.
A round trip from Sydney to Bali cost for one person $15,311!!!!! I had a look on Jetstar just now, and you could get economy flight for under $700! Then there’s the flight to Seaul ($15,688.57), Thailand ($13,093.74pp for two people), Chile ($12,805.46)…
And this doesn’t even include accommodation: From $21,115.69 for a 5 star hotel in Thailand to the whopping $265,000 for the delegation in Durban.
We asked who took these flights, but they refused to answer. It is no wonder that the department of climate change refused to reveal who took these flights – I’d be ashamed too if this was found out. We shall be appealing this decision, because the Australian public has a right to know whose holidays they are paying for.
This is just the first tranche of a series of documents we received under Freedom of Information laws, and thank you to everyone whose donation made this possible (we were charged over $750!) We shall be releasing further data discovered about waste and misuse of taxpayer funds soon.
One thing is clear though – we need to AXE THIS TAX ASAP!
(Click here to download the original source data provided by the Department . For further information about specific flights or raw data please email tandrews@taxpayers.org.au. We wish to thank Tristyn Bloom for all her assistance in creating this analysis)
