FREQUENT FLYER POINTS

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (15:10): I seek leave to make an explanation before asking the Leader of the Government a question about frequent flyer points.

Leave granted.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: In February this year, I put a question on notice to the Leader of the Government in relation to his own travel. In essence, I asked the minister to indicate how many frequent flyer points he had personally accumulated from any taxpayer-funded travel and whether he, as minister, had used those frequent flyer points he had accumulated from such travel undertaken by him or any other person. Eight months later, there is still no answer from the Leader of the Government in relation to that issue or, indeed, from the Premier, the Treasurer, or most other Rann government ministers. I note that in June this year an annual report was tabled in federal parliament in which all federal members were required to provide details of all frequent flyer points collected on official travel and indicate whether any of those points had been redeemed for official travel purposes.

I also note that, certainly in 2004, 2005 and 2006 (and I do not yet have the answers to questions about travel in 2007), the Leader of the Government undertook approximately eight overseas trips—to Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Canada, the USA, Japan, Vietnam, India, United Arab Emirates, the UK and also a number of other countries. As I said, this does not include any travel undertaken in 2007. In those three years, the total cost of those trips, including other staff, to the taxpayer was almost $250,000. My questions are:

1. Why is the Leader of the Government, after eight months, refusing to answer questions about frequent flyer points accumulated on his overseas travel paid for by the taxpayers of South Australia?

2. What is the minister hiding in relation to this issue, given that he has refused to answer these questions?

3. Given that he knows the answers, will he provide those answers to those questions today in the parliament, and will he also ensure that other ministers—in particular, the Premier and the Treasurer—also provide answers to those questions in relation to taxpayer-funded travel?

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Police, Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning) (15:13): Frequent flyer points accumulate and one cannot opt out of any scheme. In fact, if one tries to use frequent flyer points for government travel—as I have tried to do on a number of occasions—invariably it is almost impossible to get the required flight one wishes to travel on. I think that at present my account is somewhere around 400,000 points, but I accumulate points through my credit card, as I have done for at least 10 or 15 years. Any frequent flyer points I have cashed in have been on points accumulated through my credit card. The problem with sorting those out is that it is not an easy exercise to determine their source.

The Hon. R.I. Lucas interjecting:

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: Well, it is not, because, as I said, there are credit cards. I was accumulating frequent flyer points long before I became a minister. What I can say unequivocally is that I have not used frequent flyer points accumulated on government travel.