The deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, has been accused of not telling the truth in an answer to parliament by claiming he complied with guidelines on the use of taxpayer-funded VIP flights, despite failing to give details of $3.6m of flights he authorised.
Guidelines in place since 2013 oblige the government to make details of flights public every six months. But the former Coalition government ended that practice, citing a pending security review by the federal police, finance department and others.
The Albanese government announced it would update the guidelines in line with security advice, but the Greens senator David Shoebridge has seized on documents produced by Marles to the Senate which reveal that new guidelines “remain in draft form”, arguing that should compel Marles to reveal details of the flights in accordance with the 2013 guidelines.
Marles insists he is following security advice by refusing to release details, including where he travelled or who was on the flights.
On 4 September, Marles told the House of Representatives: “The guidelines that are in place I completely comply with and so does every other person in the government who uses the special purpose aircraft.
“I absolutely stand by the way in which all persons on this side have complied with those guidelines.”
Shoebridge claimed: “If the minster has said he has fully complied with the guidelines, the minister has not told the truth.
“The [2013] guidelines have a black and white obligation for six-monthly reporting of all legs flown and passengers carried. That has never been complied with under his watch.”
Documents produced under freedom of information and to the Senate show that on 22 February, the security coordination group agreed that “special purpose aircraft [SPA] guidelines are not currently fit-for-purpose in regards to protecting security sensitivities, including demonstrating a protection of pattern of life data be amended”.
The group agreed to amend the 2013 guidelines to remove references to: date and time of flights; departure and arrival location; names of those aboard below executive level 2; media, family members and officials.
In a letter on 13 September, Marles claimed “consistent with the Albanese government’s commitment to transparency, the SPA guidelines have subsequently been updated so that reporting may recommence in a manner and form consistent with the security advice”.
But Marles also noted that “the security coordination committee recommended the 2023 SPA guidelines remain in draft form until broader transparency and accountability measures are finalised”.
Shoebridge said: “The public was led to believe that amended guidelines were in place that validated the lack of transparency. It turns out that is plainly untrue.”
A spokesperson for Marles responded: “All travel conducted by the deputy prime minister either in his role as defence minister or as acting prime minister is in accordance with the relevant guidelines and security procedures.”
Marles’s office declined to answer questions about whether his statement to parliament that “the guidelines that are in place I completely comply with” was accurate.
On Sunday Marles told Sky News the government is “keen, as we always have been, to release as much information as possible, within the bounds of the national security advice that we’ve been given and will continue to be given”.
Guardian Australia revealed earlier this year that not only had the Coalition government stopped providing the details to the public, it had also ceased information about the flights to the independent expenses watchdog in 2021.
The decision left the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority unable to recover funds from the offices of MPs who should have paid out of their own pockets for using the expensive jet fleet, thought to cost roughly $4,600 an hour.
Governments have had a practice of publishing quarterly reports about the VIP flights since October 1967, after the so-called “VIP affair” nearly brought down the then prime minister, Harold Holt, and minister for the air, Peter Howson.
The loss of transparency is compounded by software problems which have prevented Ipea from publishing details about MP expense claims. Guardian Australia revealed this year that the public would be left blind to MP expense claims for two years, with the issues affecting Ipea expected to continue until “the second half of 2023”, when it is expected to transition to a new reporting system.
The loss of both transparency systems leaves the public and journalists unable to scrutinise potential travel rorts and expense scandals.
