Question On Notice No. 798 asked in the Legislative Council on 9 August 2022 by Hon Martin Aldridge
Question Directed to the: Leader of the House representing the Premier
Parliament: 41 Session: 1
Tabled Paper No: 1597-
View tabled paper
Question
I refer to the ‘Guidelines for Ministerial Air Charter’, and I ask:
(a) please
table the ‘(MOM – Ad Hoc Air Charter Safety 2-11-02)’ guidelines;
(b) noting
that the guidelines provide for air charter arrangements ‘exclusively for
Ministers’, how is it that flights are being conducted where the primary
passenger is a Member of Parliament representing a Minister;
(c) has
any breech of the guidelines been identified by the department in the 2021-22
financial year and, if so, please identify the breech and the action taken;
(d) I
refer to the paragraph entitled ‘Who Pays for Ministerial Air Charter? –
Primary Contract’ and I ask, for each month in 2021-22 please detail the costs
recovered from each Minister; and
(e) I
refer to the ‘overriding principle’ that a Minister must be satisfied that all
destinations must not be within 300 kilometres of Perth and I ask, on how many
occasions in 2021-22 was the overriding principle not adhered to and please
identify the instance of non-compliance?
Answered on 20 September 2022
The Department of the Premier and Cabinet advises:
(a) Refer to tabled paper [x].
(b) Travel on the aircraft is arranged for the Minister, for official Government or Ministerial purposes. When a Minister is not able to travel, Ministerial Air Charter may receive a request from the ministerial office, that a Parliamentary Secretary will represent the Minister for the itinerary. Each request is considered on a case by case basis.
(c) No.
(d) The Department of the Premier and Cabinet no longer recoups costs on a proportionate basis from Ministers who utilise the aircraft during that month. This was related to the previous leasing arrangement for the aircraft and is no longer relevant. Reimbursement of passenger’s inflight meal catering and pilot related expenses is sought from each office.
(e) Refer to tabled paper [x].