RAAF, or Richard Marles’ Airways? The Defence Minister’s flight of fancy
The horrific events at Bondi Beach took a toll on front-page travel, but documents show Defense Secretary Richard Marles used an Air Force 737 as his own private jet. Rex Patrick reports.
We apologize to Richard Marles for using the title Minister of Defense at the beginning of this article; He prefers the title of Deputy Prime Minister. It’s all about looks.
What’s next for your travel routes?
The Prime Minister has asked IPEA, the Independent Parliamentary Expenditure Agency, to examine whether parliament’s travel authorization rules require reform (hint: they do).
MWM An FOI is being placed to see what goes on behind the tightly drawn curtains of the Prime Minister’s Office.
MWM readers will be informed.
Meanwhile at RAAF VIP Airways
In August 2023, journalist Samantha Maiden revealed that the Defense Secretary – sorry, Deputy Prime Minister – had been personally consulted about the decision to stop broadcasting where politicians were flying on VIP flights, and that she had personally footed a bill of $3.6 million.
VIP Flights: Albo’s secret mission revealed. Destroy after reading
Broadcasting VIP flights generally does not pose a security risk.
Indeed, they were published regularly from the late 1960s until 2022, with details about routes and passengers. VIP flights generally depart from secure airports, often from quarantined Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) areas of the same airports, with reports requested to be made public long after the event.
MWM is fighting two separate Freedom of Information (FOI) battles with the Ministry of Defense (“Defence”) over the release of flight details.
In the first FOI challenge, from September 2023 to October 2024, the Defense capitulated at the Administrative Review Tribunal, effectively telling MWM that there was no security issue on the flights themselves, but rather a concern about the targeting of individuals with close ties to high-placed figures (presumably with cyber surveillance).
Defense’s Real Concerns About Disclosure of Passenger Information (Source: Defense)
second request
When a second FOI request is made in October 2024 MWM The Defense Minister’s FOI focusing on the – sorry – Deputy Prime Minister’s ‘last four flights’ was met with hostility and obstruction.
But after taking the matter to the Information Commissioner (OAIC) and threatening to take it to the Administrative Review Tribunal, the Defense capitulated again.
In this case, documents show two of the four flights in question were between Avalon, 64km from Melbourne airport, and Canberra. The first was a morning flight from Avalon to Canberra on 23 September 2024. In addition to the two pilots, according to the passenger manifest, there were 5 security/support/defense personnel and many empty seats.
It is unknown why the Minister of Defense did not buy a commercial jet. There is a business class flight option from Melbourne to Canberra for around $1000. Perhaps such behavior would not have been appropriate for a Deputy Prime Minister at that time.
and environment
A second flight from Canberra to Avalon, at the end of parliamentary sitting week on 10 October 2024, carried the Minister of Defense – sorry, we keep getting it wrong – the Deputy Prime Minister – and three other Victorian MPs, Resources Minister Catherine King, Libby Coker MP and Joanne Ryan MP.
All were properly designated as ‘eligible passengers’ by the RAAF.
The FOI recommends escorting 13 other security/support/defense personnel. There were still many empty seats on the plane.
Boeing Business Jet (BBJ) (Source: Defense)
The other two flights operated by the Deputy Prime Minister and captured by the FOI (he will be happy we finally used that more distinguished title) were the Sydney to Java (Indonesia) to Timor to Avalon flight from 28 to 30 August 2024 and the flight from Melbourne to Port Villa on 18 September 2024, returning to Avalon the following day – both using the RAAF’s smaller Falcon private jet.
Dassault Falcon 7X(Source: Defense)
Perhaps it was appropriate for the Deputy Prime Minister to fly a Falcon ‘private’ jet for these international trips, but it is difficult to see the justification for taking an almost empty RAAF 737 on a trip that could easily be undertaken on commercial flights.
Bronwyn “Helicopter” Bishop
Richard Marles lives in Geelong. Maybe he could fly ahead of a commercial airliner from Canberra to Melbourne and then helicopter all the way to Geelong. Bronwyn Bishop did this once in 2015 (and lost her job as Speaker of the House of Representatives).
But Bishop’s extravagance was cheaper for taxpayers than Marles’.
The Deputy Prime Minister apparently finds the hour-long journey between Melbourne Airport and Geelong in a luxuriously equipped Comcar to be an intolerable inconvenience. But even if safety requirements were allowed, it would be a much more cost-effective solution than the RAAF-crewed 737.
When the above domestic flights were made the FOI had not successfully dug up VIP flight details from under the shroud of secrecy of a flight manifest introduced by former Prime Minister Morrison but approved by Marles.
Maybe next MWM FOI on the Deputy Prime Minister’s flights may reveal that shedding some light on the matter has stopped such extravagance. We’ll just have to wait and see.
Rex Patrick is a former South Australian Senator and formerly a submariner in the armed forces. Known as an anti-corruption and transparency warrior, Rex is also known as “Transparency Warrior“
