Mathias Cormann had ‘no idea’ travel agent paid for family holiday flights
January 2018
The flights for the holiday to Singapore were paid for by a travel company controlled by Liberal Party Treasurer Andrew Burnes within weeks of that company winning a $1 billion contract from Cormann’s department, according to The Age.
Helloworld, a listed company of which Mr Burnes is the chief executive, booked the flights for Senator Cormann, his wife and two children on the company’s “staff and family travel” account.Â
The travel company paid $2780.82 for the Singapore flights, which were booked in July 2017, and taken in early January, 2018.
The minister only paid for the return flights to Singapore from Perth in February 2019 after being contacted by The Age.
Senator Cormann said he had “no idea” that his credit card had not been charged. Mr Burnes said it was “absolutely an internal administrative oversight” that the credit card had not been charged for the trip when it was booked,
A 30-year veteran of the mainstream media, Liz was the editor of MWMuntil June 2021. Liz began her career in journalism in 1990 and worked at The Age newspaper for two 10-year stints. She also worked at The Guardian newspaper in London for more than seven years. A former professional tennis player who represented Australia in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, Liz has a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Letters (Hons).