Ministerial Travel

The Hon. T.R. KENYON (Newland) (15:34): I rise to reflect a little bit on the discussion earlier today in question time, or at least some of the questions in question time, particularly those around ministerial and members' travel. It is easy to lose sight of history. It is worth remembering some of the questions. Let it be said right at the start that I think members and ministers should travel and, in fact, probably should travel more than they do. I do not think anyone is going to benefit from a group of parliamentarians sitting around in Adelaide, talking to each other about Adelaide, without any reference to the rest of the world, without any reference to the way other people do things and the way other people do things particularly better than us, and how we might learn from them and how we might improve the way we do things. Further to that, in fact, it should be done in a reasonable way.

Obviously, I do not have a problem with people travelling. I think we should travel more, as I said before, to learn, but I think it should be done in a reasonable and economic way. We have seen in the past some profligacies far in excess of what is needed, and one trip is worth talking about. On 27 December 1998, there was an article in the Sunday Mail that talked about some of the travel of the former premier, premier Olsen, now the President of the Liberal Party, of course. It stated:

Full details of a 16-day $217,000 overseas business trip by the Premier, Mr Olsen, have been revealed. State Government documents have been released detailing Mr Olsen's trip to France, Spain, Britain and the US in September. The Premier, his wife Julie (for the UK part of the trip), and six advisers—including chief of staff Vicki Thompson and consultant Alex Kennedy—flew around the world and stayed in high-priced hotels.

Taxpayers picked up the tab for most of the four nation trip. Pages of documents faxed to the Sunday Mail reveal Mr Olsen cost taxpayers almost $37,000 in airfares, accommodation—

remember that this is in 1998—

and other expenses, with an additional $6600 in airfares for Mrs Olsen. Mr Olsen has defended the cost of the trip, saying he met with 20 organisations and was expected to generate more than $20 million in new investment.

This is, of course, precisely the reason to travel—for new investment into our state and ideas about how to better run the place—but again, as I said, it needs to be done in an economic way. I will return to the article:

The official party flew out of Adelaide on September 4 to meet with power supply companies that had expressed an interest in buying ETSA and Optima Energy.

That is somewhat germane to current discussions. The article continued:

Mr Olsen had also met top-level sporting officials in Spain to discuss the Sydney 2000 Olympics. Also on the agenda were meetings with companies involved in the defence, tourism and food processing industries before they returned on September 20.

In London, the Premier and Mrs Olsen stayed in the Hyatt Carlton for six nights, costing more than $10,500. Mrs Olsen spent seven days in London before returning to Adelaide. While Mrs Olsen came home, her husband flew on the Concorde to New York where he stayed in the posh—

remembering that at the time Concorde was one of the most expensive fares in the world and certainly the most expensive between Europe and New York. I think it was an all first-class trip at the time, from memory—

Waldorf Astoria Hotel—costing $2416 for two nights.

Again, as I said, remember this is 1998. It continued:

Earlier, Mr Olsen had spent several days in France and Spain, running up more than $6000 in hotel expenses. In London, the State Government hosted a $25,000 investment dinner at Australia House for 125 businessmen.

I suspect that was money well spent. The article then stated:

Included in the overseas trip were the chief executive of the Department of Premier and Cabinet, Mr Ian Kowalick, and senior bureaucrat, Mr John Cambridge.

And there was a whole separate bunch of FOIs about Mr Cambridge. It then stated:

Then media adviser, Ms Thomson, cost more than $32,000 for her airfares, meals, accommodation and associated expenses. She accompanied Mr Olsen to New York aboard the Concorde—

again, an all first-class trip, if I remember rightly—

and stayed in the Waldorf Astoria, clocking up $2570 in expenses.

Expenses, but maybe accommodation as well, although $2,570 in expenses is the way it is reported here in the Sunday Mail:

Ms Kennedy, a former political strategist to Mr Olsen and now working as a consultant at selling ETSA, spent $27,000 on the trip.

Her costs were paid for by the Electricity Reform and Sale Unit, which is working on behalf of the State Government. Opposition Treasury spokesman, Mr Foley, has demanded the State Government explain the costs. 'Clearly, any government has to be careful when it's spending taxpayers' money and we'd want to be assured that the money was well spent,' Mr Foley said—

give him his due—

Mr Olsen said: 'The trip will play a key role in job creation in South Australia. I expect it to generate more than $20 million in new investment.'