FORMER N.S.W. LABOR PREMIER $100,000 FAREWELL TOUR
Former Premier Bob Carr’s
farewell spin-doctoring – a trip to Dubai and London to announce the
site of Sydney’s desalination plant, cost N.S.W. taxpayers at least $100,000,
$10,000 of which was spent on chauffeurs in London. Flights alone for the Former Premier, his
entourage and his wife Helena cost more than $67,000. Mr. Carr and his wife’s hotel bill was
$8,906. Mr. Carr ended his 12-day tour,
which earned him the name of Dubai Bob, just a week before he pulled the plug
as Premier.
When Mr. Carr resigned in July
2005, he said he had made his decision on a beautiful Sydney weekend before he quit. It was reported that those closest to Mr.
Carr knew two months prior to his resignation saying, in effect, the overseas
trip would be his farewell jaunt. Mr.
Carr announced the location of the desalination plant in Dubai
then travelled to London
for meetings and media appearances.
Credit card records show he spent $9,926 in London, including $8,906 on accommodation at
the Carlton Tower Hotel. They also list the bill of his Security Chief Peter Benic at $3,903, but not those of his Chief of Staff Graeme
Wedderburn, and Press Secretary Amanda Lampe.
According to a Qantas invoice released by the Premier’s Department,
the Carrs flew first class to Dubai
and London at a
cost of $22,606. The return flight cost
$26,001. The bill for Amanda Lampe and
Graeme Wedderburn, who were upgraded from business to
first class on the Sydney- Dubai-London part of the trip, was $16,007. The cost of Peter Benic’s
flight was itemised as $2,679, but it is rather vague
if this included the return trip. The
troupe spent more than $1,500 on an executive, $10,030 on chauffeured
cars. Another $1,445 was spent on a
breakfast for business leaders.
Mr. Wedderburn’s
expense details were not released because the Premier’s Department said he was
overseas and so could not be consulted.
The records show Amanda Lampe received a Cash Advance of $1,888, but her bag was stolen in London, so some of the money was lost and is
understood to be subject to an insurance claim. Mr. Carr received a similar
advance but returned $623. Mr. Carr’s
credit card records show he enjoyed a $204 meal at the Middle Eastern
Restaurant Beit Eddine in London’s West End, and spent $436 at the Italian
Restaurant Zafferano in Chelsea.
He also spent $129 at a Knightsbridge Restaurant, Pengelley’s,
backed by the celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay.
The records do not show the Carr’s hotel bill for Dubai, only Mr. Benic’s,
which came to $917. The Chief of Staff
in the Premier’s Department, Kim Cull, said the costs released “do not
represent the entirety of the costs related to Mr. Carr’s trip.”
“Several documents are yet to be
reconciled due to the absence of personnel,” he said in a report to the FOI
determination. Mr. Carr did not respond
to reporters’ calls. A spokesman for Premier Morris Iemma
said, “The Premier’s Department advises that the travel undertaken by the
former Premier to Dubai and London was in accordance with relevant
guidelines for overseas travel.”
“Mr. Carr had visited a
desalination plant in Dubai, and met officials
on health and security issues in London”,
he said. During his trip to the United Arab Emirates,
Mr. Carr also announced Macquarie Bank had formed a partnership with the
Emirates’ third largest bank, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank. It is interesting to note that the former
N.S.W. Premier is now a $500,000-a-year consultant for the Macquarie Bank. This is further evidence that only a Liberal-National
Federal Government uses and abuses the Government of N.S.W., and other Labor
Governments and their Bureaucrats are guilty of doing likewise.
What we find absorbing is how or
why the Macquarie Bank offered former Premier Bob Carr a consultant’s position
with their bank, which he accepted for an income of $500,000 per year. You see, prior to N.S.W. Politics, Bob Carr
was a very ordinary journalist with a good knowledge of the American Civil War. Not what you would call laudable references for
a future Premier or Bank Consultant.
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