Mary Wooldridge’s travel bill mounts Kim Carr - Shadow Minister for Science and Research, Shadow Minister for Industry and Innovation

Media Statement - 1 June 2004

The taxpayer-funded travel bill for former senior staffer to Senator Nick Minchin, Mary Wooldridge has doubled, now totalling $19,210.

The total cost of her round the world “training and development” tour came out in evidence to the Economics Estimates Committee late last night.

Then Industry Minister Senator Nick Minchin, who earlier said he did not recall the trip, confirmed that Ms Wooldridge had taken a 12 day tour, when she was his senior adviser.

Ms Wooldridge travelled to Washington, London, Cambridge, Helsinki, Dublin, Glasgow and Edinburgh from 7 March 2001 to 19 March 2001. Later that year Ms Wooldridge left the Minister’s office for a Melbourne job.

Officials confirmed that the trip was not funded through the normal channels, via the Department of Finance and Administration, because DoFA did not fund staff travel of this type.

Instead a deal had been struck between a Senator Minchin’s Chief of Staff and a senior Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources official, and DITR funded the trip.

Departmental officials said DITR had never funded such a tour before or after Ms Wooldridge’s March 2001 tour.

Officials also confirmed that Ms Wooldridge has not written a report on the tour. A report on the European leg of the tour might have been written by another participant in the tour.

It is highly unusual for a staff member to officially travel overseas without their minister or departmental officials. The fact that there was no report written by Ms Wooldridge means taxpayers are left in the dark about what the trip may have achieved.

The arrangements surrounding Ms Wooldridge’s “learning and development” tour are extraordinary.

Taxpayers have every right is question whether the tour represented value for money and why Ms Wooldridge received such special treatment?