Michael McCormack’s movie nights cost taxpayers $2,500 a ticket – and his scene was cut

Michael McCormack in a cinema in Wagga Wagga, NSW. Ahead of the 2019 election, McCormack recorded video messages to be played during taxpayer-funded movie roadshows, but they never saw the light of day. Photograph: Twitter/ Samantha Costin

They’re the “problematic” videos that the finance department didn’t want to see the light of day.

Created for an “objective” infrastructure campaign, the videos featured a cheery Michael McCormack spruiking federal government spending. They were to be played before free movies in a taxpayer-funded roadshow through regional cities to promote the Building our Future package in 2019, ahead of the May election.