Opinion
When Premier Chris Minns led a NSW government trip to India recently, the visit was accompanied by media releases, social media posts and enough fanfare to make a Bollywood movie producer blush.
Now CBD has discovered the cost of the journey, which was quietly and discreetly released with no fanfare.
That’s understandable when it turns out taxpayers forked out almost a quarter of a million bucks: $225,120.78, to be precise. That’s according to the government’s best estimates listed in new disclosures about the trip, uploaded online recently.
The premier travelled with his wife, Anna Minns, whom the government said was an official ambassador for the state, to Delhi and Mumbai in late August, aiming to engage with Indian businesses and to bring investment from one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing economies into NSW. The trip lasted eight days, including travel.
Did it work? The government released a nine-page summary of the meetings and benefits to the people of NSW. But what was of interest to CBD was the eye-watering price of flights: $164,398 for the premier and his wife, Treasurer Daniel Mookhey, three NSW Police and 10 staff.
“International airfares were impacted by the global fuel crisis as a result of the conflict in the Middle East,” the report says. “As a guide, the ACCC reported jet fuel prices were over 40 per cent higher in early June 2026 compared to mid-February 2026, increasing cost pressures across the aviation sector.”
The premier’s office advised us, when we made inquiries, the Labor government had significantly cut the amount of travel its ministers did compared with the Coalition: over 22 missions, the Coalition spent $1.42 million. The current government, over 11 trips, has spent about $547,000.
Jaunts on the taxpayer dime are never popular – just ask Sydney’s many local councils that have splashed out tens of thousands over the years on trips with far less value than the premier’s.
Consider Hawkesbury Council’s attempted trip to India; Blacktown Council’s $42,000 trip to Ireland (rescheduled because of the Middle East conflict); or even Ku-ring-gai Council’s jaunt to the other side of the city: $20,000 for a two-night stay in the Blue Mountains.
The worst we’ve seen was the brazen taxpayer-funded attempt at a holiday by former Penrith Liberal mayor Tricia Hitchen in 2023: a $200,000 two-week trip meandering between Amsterdam, London and Paris, purportedly to inspect “greenfield airports” like the one coming to western Sydney. After intense backlash, the trip was eventually booted.
One Nation’s business pitch
Each year, representatives of the nation’s business lobbies get together to press the flesh with ministers and other Canberra notables under the auspices of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (ACCI) Business Leaders’ Summit.
On Monday evening, this year’s function kicked off with a “welcome drinks” soiree sponsored by US ecommerce behemoth Amazon, which last year pledged some $20 billion in Australian data centre investment. The capital’s strivers could look forward to a Tuesday night gala billing Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as the guest of honour.
But it’s the speakers scheduled to address the main event on Tuesday that piqued our interest.
Among them was none other than One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, who, we’re told, will be joined by party firebrand and former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce at the get-together in the theatrette in Parliament House.
Their appearance caught our attention because it was only about a month ago that ACCI chief executive Andrew McKellar told reporters he had concerns the party’s migration policy could risk a “deep recession” and do long-term damage to the economy. We’re already looking forward to the wash-up.
Both the Albanese government and Coalition are also represented on the docket. Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen is scheduled to give a talk on energy security. Assistant Technology Minister Andrew Charlton will give an address on “the critical imperative to back Australian AI”, which we’d guess will find a way to argue it’d only be possible with more data centre investment from Amazon, OpenAI and Anthropic. Employment Minister Amanda Rishworth will address the room.
Nationals leader Matt Canavan is set to show face and give a keynote address – though on what, we’re not yet sure – while Opposition Leader Angus Taylor is on the program for a “fireside chat”. But our guess is whatever the opposition leader has to tell the room will be overshadowed by the appearance of former federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg in Sydney later that evening for one among a string of events scheduled for the launch of his new book.
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