EXCLUSIVE

In a surprising contrast, the Coalition permitted 14 of its members, including over a quarter of Peter Dutton’s front bench, to attend a summit in London. This occurred just weeks before they criticized Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for his frequent travels, dubbing him ‘Airbus Albo’.

The sizable Opposition group participated in the ‘Alliance for Responsible Citizenship’, a global assembly of conservative leaders, held from October 28 to November 1.

This journey saw approximately 16 percent of the Coalition’s parliamentary team and 26.7 percent of their front bench embarking on the extensive 17,000-kilometer journey from Australia.

Prime Minister Albanese has faced significant criticism from the Opposition, who have embraced the ‘Airbus Albo’ moniker. Peter Dutton even urged the PM to cancel his fourth international trip in a month, which was to the APEC summit in San Francisco last week.

However, Patrick Gorman, the assistant minister to the Prime Minister, defended Mr. Albanese’s travels, suggesting they were more justifiable compared to the large delegation that flew to the UK. This group attended to hear Jordan Peterson speak and to present their own addresses to conservative leaders from across the globe.

‘The Albanese Government is working hard to restore our international relationships after a decade of mismanagement,’ Mr Gorman said.

‘It is hard to see how more than a quarter of the Coalition’s frontbench travelling on the dime of foreign billionaires and overseas hedge funds is in Australia’s national interest.’ 

A large delegation of MPs and Senators from the Opposition attended the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship event – a gathering of international conservative politicians, from October 28 to November 1

Politicians listened to lectures from the likes of Jordan Peterson and delivered speeches of their own to thousands of guests from around the world

Mr Albanese has made 20 trips in the 19 months since he landed the top job.

But at a time when everyday Australians are struggling to pay their mortgages and rents, can’t fill their petrol tanks and interest rates are soaring, the optics of the trips have been less than ideal.

He’s not the first PM to be criticised for their travels. Kevin Rudd earned the nickname ‘Kevin 747’ in his day for his huge mileage. 

In reality, Mr Albanese has made a similar number of trips to both Scott Morrison and Tony Abbott in each of their first 12 months on the job.

One Labor insider described Mr Dutton’s criticism of Mr Albanese’s trip to APEC –  even though only one prime minister has ever cancelled on the summit due to a death in the family – as an ‘unfair and, frankly, low attempt to incite outrage’.

Labor politicians, including Deputy PM Richard Marles, rushed to Mr Albanese’s defence and said the government ‘made no apology for the fact we are engaging with the world’.

‘What we inherited when we came to power in May of this year was the worst circumstances in terms of our global relations that this country has ever faced.

‘We had the situation with our largest trading partner where there was no contact whatsoever. With the country about whom we have the greatest security anxiety there was no formal defence dialogue in place at all.’

Alex Antic was among notable guests at the event

Former Liberal frontbencher Julian Leeser – who quit as Shadow Indigenous Australians minister during the Voice referendum debate – was also among attendees

Shadow Minister for Home Affairs James Paterson is one Coalition Senator who was critical of Mr Albanese’s decision to attend APEC and leave his government to pass through legislation in his absence last week. 

Mr Paterson last week described the APEC trip – which occurred while the government scrambled to address a landmark High Court decision releasing more than 80 asylum seekers – as an ‘abdication of responsibility’.

But Mr Paterson has also repeatedly said that he personally ‘strongly supports the need for the Prime Minister to travel internationally in these times of heightened strategic competition’.

‘We need a seat at the table, but he should not have left the country until this matter was dealt with. He should have used the time he had while he was in the country to make sure that these robust protections for the community passed. 

‘He hasn’t done so. That is a failure of leadership by the Prime Minister. That is an abdication of responsibility. He should not be jetting off while criminals remain free to roam the streets.’

According to Senator Paterson’s register of interest, he has spent 34 days in the past 12 months on overseas trips, citing six separate international visits.

Mr Paterson was one of the 14 MPs and senators who attended the ARC summit, alongside former prime minister Scott Morrison, Angus Taylor, Barnaby Joyce and Julian Leeser.

Alex Antic, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, Andrew Hastie, Matt Canavan, Dan Tehan and Anne Webster were also among Coalition guests, as were Henry Pike, Garth Hamilton and David Fawcett.

The Alliance for Responsible Citizenship is the brainchild of psychologist Jordan Peterson, and is described as a centre-right structure to ‘replace… division and drift within conservatism’.

ARC has two shareholders – British billionaire Sir Paul Marshall and Dubai-based investment group Legatum Ventures. The organisation funded the travel of each of the parliamentarians who attended.

Mr Paterson’s register of interests reveals he has travelled to Honolulu, Washington, Singapore, California, New York, Tokyo and London during the 47th Parliament in his role as Shadow Home Affairs minister.

The Alliance for Responsible Citizenship is the brainchild of psychologist Jordan Peterson, and is described as a centre-right structure to ‘replace… division and drift within conservatism’ 

Mr Paterson’s register of interests reveals he has travelled to Honolulu, Washington, Singapore, California, New York, Tokyo and London during the 47th Parliament in his role as Shadow Home Affairs minister

And former PM Mr Morrison made four separate declarations regarding the trip and subsequent travel while on the other side of the world.

Mr Morrison was gifted a return business class airfare and accommodation to attend ARC from October 28 to November 1. 

He spent a further day in London as the guest of the Royal Over-Seas League, and was then flown – business class again – to Edinburgh to host a discussion panel at the University of St Andrews about the ‘politics, economics and leadership of Australia’.

The whirlwind trip didn’t end there for Mr Morrison, who was then gifted a return private charter flight to Tel Aviv, with accommodation and security gifted as the guest of Boris Johnson, former prime minister of the UK.

The PM is now back in Australia. He shared a photograph from Canberra on Monday morning of a Cabinet meeting. 

International trips taken by PMs

Anthony Albanese has been criticised for his overseas trips. See how they stack up.

The record for most trips abroad by a Prime Minister during their first 12 months in office was set by Kevin Rudd in 2008, but later matched by Tony Abbott and exceeded by Scott Morrison. 

Anthony Albanese 

2022

Japan (May 23 – 25)

Indonesia (June 5 – 7)

United Arab Emirates (June 27)

Spain (June 27 – July 1)

France (July 1 – 2)

Ukraine (July 3 – 4)

Fiji (July 13 – 14)

United Kingdom (September 16 – 20)

Japan (September 26 – 28)

Cambodia (November 11 – 14)

Indonesia (November 14 – 17)

Thailand (November 17 – 19)

2023

Papua New Guinea (January 12 – 13)

India (March 8 – 11)

United States (March 11 – 14)

Fiji (March 15)

United Kingdom (May 3 – 6)

Japan (May 19 – 21)

Singapore (June 1 – 2)

Vietnam (June 3 – 4)

Germany (July 10)

Lithuania (July 11 – 12)

New Zealand (July 26 – 27)

Indonesia (September 6 – 7)

Phillipines (September 7 – 8)

India (September 9 – 10)

United States (October 23 – 26)

China (November 4 – 7)

Cook Islands (November 8 – 11)

United States (November 15 – 18) 

Scott Morrison

2018

Indonesia (August 31 – September 1)

Singapore (November 13 – 15)

Papua New Guinea (November 17 – 19)

Argentina (November 30 – Dec 2)

Iraq (December 20)

2019

Vanuatu (January 15 – 16)

Fiji (January 17 – 18)

New Zealand (February 22)

New Zealand (March 29)

Solomon Islands (June 2 – 3)

United Kingdom (June 4 – 6)

Singapore (June 7)

Japan (June 27 – 29)

Tuvalu (August 14 – 16)

Vietnam (August 22 – 24)

France (August 24 – 26)

East Timor (August 30 – 31)

United States (September 19 – 27)

Fiji (October 11 – 12)

Indonesia (October 19 – 20)

Thailand (November 3 – 4)

United States (December 16 – 21)

2020

Japan (November 17 – 18)

2021 

New Zealand (May 30 – 31)

Singapore (June 10)

United Kingdom (June 11 – 15)

France (June 15)

United States (September 21 – 27)

Italy (October 30 – 31)

United Kingdom (November 1 – 2) 

 

While Mr Albanese’s extensive itinerary has garnered the most attention since Kevin Rudd was dubbed ‘Kevin 747’, evidence suggests he actually jet-sets no more than his predecessors