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Wednesday, 25 May 2011
Page: 4762

Special Purpose Flights

(Question No. 335)

Ms Julie Bishop asked the Minister for Defence, in writing, on 24 March 2011:

(1) How many delegations used the Government's Special Purpose Aircraft in each calendar year from 2005 to 2010, and what were the delegations.

(2) In each calendar year from 2005 to 2010, what was the:

(a) cost to the Government of each flight; and

(b) total cost to the Government for the flights.

Mr Stephen Smith: The answer to the honourable member's question is as follows:

(1) and (2) The information sought over the period from 2005 to 2010 can be found in Defence's biannual publication ' Schedule of Special Purpose Flights'. While the schedule does not detail the number of or which delegations use Special Purpose Aircraft, it does provide the full manifest of passengers and also details the total costs of flying each flight without specifying individual passenger costs. Defence seeks cost recovery for passenger costs from the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. The schedule is publicly available from the National Library of Australia.