News

Prime Minister Jet Gulp Public Funds

Only two months have passed since Prime Minister John Howard was made to abandon lavish plans to redecorate his dining room using more than $500,000 of public funds and yet Howard’s hand is in the taxpayer’s pockets once more.
 
Over $100,000 in taxpayer money was spent to remove a fuel tank for the purpose of creating more luggage space, and then reversing the process as pilots felt the need for higher fuel capacity on the jet.
 
"This appears to be an enormous waste of taxpayers’ money," Labor senator Penny Wong commented to reporters at ABC radio, "The prime minister appears to believe he is entitled to waste taxpayers’ money renovating his private jet and then waste more taxpayers’ money reversing these renovation."
 
Additional renovations are believed to have taken place on the prime ministers jet, including the purchase of several mattresses from the United States, costing another $30,000 in taxpayers’ funds and the replacing of wallpaper with silk fabric priced in excess of $9,000 per roll.
 
Reports were also released estimating the cost to taxpayers of about $600,000 just to fly the prime minister and other public officials back and forth from Sydney and Canberra.