Ita Buttrose's extraordinary justification for spending thousands of taxpayer dollars on chauffeurs to her favourite Italian restaurant
The 82-year-old media veteran spent at least $3,625 on luxury car hire services in the 12 months between January 2023 and January 2024, documents obtained under a Freedom of Information request by The Australian revealed.
Internal policy at the ABC says staff should be 'discouraged' from using chauffeur-driven cars and that travel cost should be 'necessary, controlled, and defensible under public scrutiny'.
Buttrose told The Australian those rules did not apply to her because the chairperson was 'not considered staff'.
'Directors of the ABC are not employees... so your questions are irrelevant,' she told The Australian.
Invoices obtained by the newspaper revealed Buttrose repeatedly charted trips with Corporate Cars Australia - a chauffeur service that brands itself as a 'luxury car hire company' offering a 'first-class experience with 24/7 chauffeur service in Sydney, Melbourne and Australia-wide'.
Among its fleet are 'only the latest model luxury vehicles' including sedans, stretch limousines, executive vans, and luxury coaches.
While she was boss at the broadcaster, she used the service for many trips to and from her Redfern home, the ABC's Ultimo offices and a number of swanky restaurants and venues across the city.
Buttrose twice used the car service to visit Beppi's Italian, a Darlinghurst staple she penned a review for some 70 years after her father, Charles Buttrose, did the same in his role as editor of The Daily Mirror.
On October 11 2023, Buttrose spent a combined $312.26 on a trip to and from her Redfern home via work and Beppi's Italian.
The journey included a $115.38 charge for the 2.4km drive from her home to the broadcaster's Ultimo headquarters.
Buttrose, who took home a $211,297 salary in 2023 as ABC chair, sold her two-bedroom high-rise Redfern apartment earlier this year for $1.67million after purchasing it for $1.55million two years earlier.
It's not the first time the media veteran's use of the luxury car hire has made headlines.
Earlier this year, she used a receipt from the car hire company to dispute evidence raised by ABC managing director David Anderson in the unlawful termination case brought against the broadcaster by former interim radio host Antoinette Lattouf.
Lattouf was let go from her fill-in post on ABC Radio Sydney's Mornings program in December 2023 after she shared a Human Rights Watch post that claimed Israel used starvation as a 'weapon of war' in Gaza.
The journalist brought her case to the Federal Court after the Fair Work Commission found she had been sacked by the broadcaster.
In that case, Anderson claimed he had shared a conversation with Buttrose the day Lattouf was let go at ABC's Ultimo office on December 20, 2023 before attending a Christmas lunch event.
He claimed Buttrose told him they were 'going to have to agree to disagree' on his position Lattouf would see out the week at the company.
In a letter sent to ABC's lawyers, Buttrose claimed receipts from the car hire service proved she had been been picked up from her Redfern home and therefore could not have spoken with Anderson at the Ultimo office before the lunch.
Those receipts, obtained earlier this year by Daily Mail Australia, included a $108.99 charge for a car hire from a redacted location to Luke's Kitchen, a destination restaurant in the lobby of the ritzy Kimpton Margot Hotel in Sydney, via ABC's Ultimo offices at 12.10pm.
The FOI request documents obtained by The Australian would suggest the trip began at Buttrose's Redfern home, in line with her claims.
She also challenged Anderson's evidence relating to a conversation he claimed to have had with the ABC's former content chief Chris Oliver-Taylor in a taxi back to the Ultimo offices after the lunch.
Buttrose claimed the conversation could not have taken place as Anderson had joined her in a car hire which dropped him at the offices before taking her home.
Invoices appear to verify Buttrose's version of the itinerary, including a further $108.99 charge for a trip from the Pitt Street restaurant to a redacted location believed to be Buttrose's Redfern home via ABC's offices at 3pm.
Daily Mail Australia does not suggest that Mr Anderson's evidence in the federal court case was anything but his honest recollection of events only that Ms Buttrose has contacted the ABC's lawyers to dispute them.
Justice Darryl Rangiah has yet to deliver his verdict on Lattouf's case against the broadcaster.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
Australian defence force fails to meet recruitment targets but numbers improving
The Australian defence force has failed to meet its latest recruitment targets despite recording the highest recruitment and retention levels in more than a decade. The ADF enlisted 7,059 full-time personnel in the 2024-25 financial year, the highest annual intake in 15 years, but still fell more than 1,000 short of its target for that year. According to the Department of Defence's incoming government brief, released under freedom of information laws, the recruitment target for the last financial year was 8,105. The figures also show fewer than 10% of applicants to the ADF in the last financial year were hired, with some dropping out due to the drawn-out recruitment process and many not meeting its strict standards. Sign up: AU Breaking News email More than 75,000 people applied to join, while just 7,059 permanent roles were filled. The government has acknowledged some applicants had dropped out or found other work, and that its commercial contract with the recruitment company Adecco has had 'teething issues'. 'As we've been trying to streamline that recruitment process, there were some teething problems with our new recruitment partner,' said the minister for defence personnel, Matt Keogh. 'I have lent in very hard … to get them back on track with applicant care as well as making sure that in doing the assessment of medical and psych appointments that they are able to be accessed more promptly. 'This has now seen great improvement, we're a long way there, we've still got a little bit more to go.' As of 1 July, the full-time ADF workforce was at 61,189 people. The latest data, provided by the defence department, shows retention has also improved, with separation rates dropping to 7.9%, after sitting between 9% and 11% since 2012. The defence force has a target of 69,000 personnel by the early 2030s, to respond to rising geopolitical tensions. At Senate estimates in June 2024, the chief of defence told the hearing that on 1 May that year the ADF workforce was 4,400 personnel short, with the total workforce at 58,284 people. Despite the shortfall in reaching the recruitment goal for the last financial year, the government said recruitment was now on track to meet the 69,000 target. The government said some of that improvement had come from targeted social media campaigns for Australians aged between 17 and 24 in what Keogh called 'smarter' advertising. 'Doing that advertising in games, in computer games, utilising TikTok, making sure that we're focusing on having that advertising presented where our target age groups are so they are seeing those messages,' Keogh said. 'Advertising [is also] targeted at those key influencers of our potential enlistees, our young people – so people like parents and teachers.' Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion The ADF is also recruiting from overseas, though its program to recruit from Five Eyes partners has started slowly. So far just three New Zealanders have joined the ADF, with a further 70 in the pre-enlistment stage, meaning they could be undergoing fitness tests or waiting for security clearances. Applications opened up to the other Five Eyes nations – the US, the UK and Canada – on 1 January, and more than 500 people across the four countries have applied. The ADF recruited 185 personnel from overseas militaries through its lateral recruitment program in the last financial year. That program is for members of a foreign military who can address critical ADF skill shortages. Keogh also said the government's work to deliver the recommendations of the royal commission into defence and veterans' suicides was a factor in trying to attract people to the ADF. 'Delivering on the recommendations of the royal commission … is really important for improving people's perceptions of, and therefore also their willingness to join the Australian defence force,' he said. 'We're … conscious that we have more work to do in this area as well.' The royal commission handed down its report to the government in September, with 122 recommendations, including the establishment of a body to help defence personnel transition to civilian life and access support. The government agreed in principle to 104 recommendations and has established a taskforce to implement them.
Daily Mail
4 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Australia's new best performing property market no one saw coming
Australia's most affordable capital city market is now Australia's best performing housing market - with prices peaking for the first time in more than a decade. The aftermath of Covid lockdowns saw house prices surge by double-digit figures in Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide, as young families priced out of Sydney moved interstate in search of a more affordable place to live. Until early 2025, Darwin home values were still below a 2014 peak, reached during an Inpex liquefied natural gas pipeline construction boom that was followed by a property market plunge. But after recovering gradually since Covid, prices are now soaring in the Northern Territory capital. Investors are now snapping up bargain-priced houses in a small city with Australia's tightest rental vacancy rate of just 0.5 per cent. Cotality research director Tim Lawless said landlord investors were chasing strong capital growth in Darwin, which is still a particularly affordable market. 'Investor numbers in Darwin have absolutely rocketed - they've pretty much doubled over the past year, more than doubled in value terms,' he told Daily Mail Australia. 'This upswing in housing values is being driven by investor demand. 'The affordability and the really high rental yields is probably the key thing that is attracting investors; again this is a supply thing - we haven't seen much investment activity in Darwin up until recently so there hasn't been a great deal of new rental supply. 'Whichever side of the book you're looking at, housing values or rental values, they're both rising quite rapidly now.' Prices are also reaching new peaks after plunging a decade ago. 'I wouldn't say they stagnated until recently - they've had a pretty decent upwards trajectory since 2020; it was really, since 2014, they went through quite a decent slump - they fell substantially and then did virtually nothing,' he said. 'The last five years has been catch-up for Darwin - it's a reflection of that affordability advantage that Darwin has built up.' Darwin's median house price has soared by 9.7 per cent during the past year to a still relatively affordable $641,997, new Cotality data for July showed. But in the nearby satellite city of Palmerston, Driver house values surged by 12.4 per cent to $512,921, which is still attainable for someone earning an average salary of $78,567. Unit values in Darwin, however, are still very affordable with a median value of just $390,863, following an oversupply during the Inpex LNG construction build that saw apartment values remain weak. Darwin is still the only capital city market where someone earning less than six figures can buy a mid-priced house instead of just a unit, with banks typically lending owner-occupiers five times their pre-tax salary. Like Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide during Covid, Darwin prices are roaring back to life and reaching new peaks after years of flatlining. The Top End is now seeing the kind of boom that other provincial capital cities experienced during Covid lockdowns in Sydney and Melbourne in 2021, when interest rates were still at a record-low of 0.1 per cent. This is despite the Northern Territory having a below-average population growth pace of 1.2 per cent as 2,234 people on a net basis left for another part of Australia. Adelaide was Australia's second best performing market with prices up 6.8 per cent over the year to $895,726 but in the more affordable northern suburb of Andrews Farm, prices climbed by 14.5 per cent over the year to a still cheap $506,610. Brisbane prices rose by 6.7 per cent to $1.02million but in nearby Bundamba, in Ipswich, they rose by 12.6 per cent to $646,332. Perth prices rose six per cent to $869,689 but in the more affordable eastern suburbs, Midland prices rose by 13.2 per cent to a still affordable $637,998. House price growth was more subdued in Sydney and Melbourne, which receive the biggest influx of overseas migration. Sydney values edged up by 2.2 per cent to $1.526million, making it by far Australia's most expensive market. The city's affordable south-west had bigger increases with Bonnyrigg prices rising by 13.6 per cent to $1.158million. Melbourne house prices rose by one per cent to $952,339 but in Frankston North, they rose by 9.3 per cent to $658,157. The Reserve Bank is widely expected to cut interest rates again on August 12, following an inflation drop, and the futures market is forecasting three more cuts by the end of 2025, which would take the cash rate from 3.85 per cent now to 3.1 per cent for the first time since February 2023. Mr Lawless said more rate cuts would see wealthier, inner-city suburbs get the steepest price growth instead of the more affordable, outer suburbs as banks were able to lend more. 'As interest rates come down, it's probably unlocking a bit more credit for more expensive suburbs,' he said. 'They're also the markets where we've generally seen weaker conditions over the past couple of years.'
The Guardian
5 hours ago
- The Guardian
Clean energy subsidies should be replaced with ‘market-based incentives' from 2030, Productivity Commission says
The Productivity Commission says clean energy subsidy programs should not be extended beyond 2030, and that 'market-based incentives' should guide investment in the clean energy transition over the coming decades. The commission's interim report on investing in cheaper, cleaner energy and the net zero transformation is one of five which will be released over two weeks and which set out a series of reforms to reinvigorate Australia's productivity. Commissioner Barry Sterland said 'Australia's net zero transformation is well under way'. 'Getting the rest of the way at the lowest possible cost is central to our productivity challenge,' he said. The commission stopped short of repeating previous recommendations for a broad price on carbon. But it advocated for a significant expansion of the safeguard mechanism, which sets emission limits for only the heaviest polluters, by slashing the threshold from 100,000 tonnes to 25,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent a year. Sign up: AU Breaking News email Chris Bowen, the climate change and energy minister, last week announced an increase in taxpayer subsidies available for green energy projects under its successful capacity investment scheme (CIS). The CIS and the government's other clean energy subsidy scheme, the renewable energy target, do not extend beyond 2030, and the commission argued that the two programs should be replaced with 'market-based incentives in the electricity sector'. The commission also said the implementation of the new vehicle efficiency standard meant federal and state governments should phase out specific concessions for electric vehicles, including on fringe benefits tax, stamp duties and registration fees. A new emissions-reduction incentive for heavy vehicles should also be introduced, the commission said. The commission said it takes too long to develop green energy infrastructure and there are deep concerns that the government will not reach its 2030 climate targets, which include 82% of energy production from renewable sources. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion The report called for an overhaul of how green energy projects are assessed under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, to allow decision-makers to consider whether a project is important to Australia's clean energy transition. Martin Stokie, a commissioner who is leading the inquiry alongside Sterland, said Australia's 'sluggish and uncertain approval processes are not up to the task' of delivering the huge amount of clean energy infrastructure needed to meet national climate targets. 'Overdue reforms to the EPBC Act would both speed up approvals and better protect the environment,' he said. The environment minister, Murray Watt, is reviewing the act as part of a new package of federal nature laws, which were shelved before the election after lobbying from mining companies and the Western Australian government. The commission also made a series of recommendations to build the country's resilience to the effects of climate change. The interim report called on the commonwealth to lead development of a public database of all climate hazards, and a series of goals and policies to improve the resilience of houses. Notably, the commission backed a climate resilience star-rating system that would reflect the potential damage from climate change. 'People's experience of climate change will depend on the resilience of their home, but most lack the information they need to invest in upgrades,' Sterland said. 'As climate risks intensify, boosting our resilience can lower the costs of disaster recovery and create a healthier, safer and more productive Australia.' The commission will now consult on its draft recommendations before the final report due at the end of this year.
