Release: NSW Education Minister spends $90,000 on one overseas junket

Release: NSW Education Minister spends $90,000 on one overseas junket

The Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance, the nation’s largest grassroots advocacy group representing taxpayers, today criticised NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell for racking up a whopping $48,000 on flights for herself and a single staffer during one, 8 day, overseas trip. Once all the expenses, including $2000 on chauffeurs, were accounted for, she ended up spending $90,000 of taxpayer money.

“NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell treated taxpayer funds like her father’s platinum credit card. She deserves worse than a solid grounding for this gross misuse of tax dollars, especially given that it hasn’t produced any results,” said ATA Policy Director, Emilie Dye.

“It boggles the mind how quickly some of our politicians can spend money when it doesn’t belong to them personally. I struggle to imagine how Minister Mitchell can justify spending $3000 a day on flights alone.”

“The Minister has been very public about the whys and whens of her trip, but the taxpayer wants to know how she spent such an extravagant amount of money doing it. Hard working NSW taxpayers have a right to know the details of how politicians spend such large sums so quickly and so frivolously.”