MEMBERS' TRAVEL ALLOWANCES

The Hon. M. PARNELL (15:05): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Industrial Relations a question about MP travel allowance.

Leave granted.

The Hon. M. PARNELL: A few years ago, before he became a minister, the Hon. Russell Wortley embarked on a worthy campaign to save taxpayers money by allowing MPs to book their own domestic airfares online and thereby secure the cheapest flights, rather than having to book their flights through the government's monopoly travel agent. The savings would flow from being able to book cheaper, non-flexible fares at a fraction of the cost of flexible fares and also saving the travel agent's commission. A number of members of this place would have signed the petition that the Hon. Russell Wortley prepared at that time. My questions are:

1. Does the minister still support the position that he personally advocated when he was a backbench member of this place—that all members of parliament should be able to take advantage of cheaper online airfares, rather than having to go through the government's travel agent?

2. Is that a position the minister will be advocating in the review of travel entitlements to be conducted by the Remuneration Tribunal as announced by the Premier this week?

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for State/Local Government Relations) (15:06): Thank you very much for your question. The petition that I handed around was not my petition. I agreed with the petition, but I did not organise it. I did agree with it, so I took pleasure in taking it around and most people in this chamber signed it.

I do personally support members getting on the internet and getting the cheapest fare. I don't think we get that at the moment under current conditions, and I think there are significant savings to be made by booking your own online. So, I did support that position before, and I do now and into the future. In regard to making a submission to the review, no, I won't be making that as a submission to the review.