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Ministers in the Turnbull government again have the opportunity to fly first class on overseas trips — as long as the taxpayer does not foot the bill.
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Travelling ministers can also now take more staff at taxpayer expense and have greater discretion on whether to undertake trips, provided they take into account cabinet meetings and parliamentary sittings.
The new conditions for travel follow the dumping of restrictions imposed by Tony Abbott that banned all first-class travel and in most cases limited the entourage to one or two staff members.
When elected prime minister, Mr Abbott issued a series of warnings to ministers and MPs about travel and electoral entitlements, rigorously policed by his chief-of-staff Peta Credlin.
The restrictions on personal entitlements, including electorate staff and the insistence ministerial staff be based in Canberra to save travel and living expenses, caused great resentment within the Liberal ranks and were a prime reason for the first leadership spill attempt against Mr Abbott a year ago.
As part of the decentralisation of decision making away from the Prime Minister’s Office — known as “command and control” under Mr Abbott and Ms Credlin — ministers are now being allowed to make their own judgments on when to travel and how many staff to take.
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