November 10, last year, Western Australia Governor McGovern (right) participated in Western Australia-Zhejiang Friendship City 30th anniversary of the. (Twitter picture)
According to the Western Australian newspaper, (Mark McGowan), the governor of Western Australia, spent more than A $ two hundred and fifty thousand on a 10-day visit to China and Japan in 2017 with three directors. Western Australia opposition party questioned government's trip. It is understood that a delegation from Western Australia, consisting of Governor McGovern, three government Directors and 12 officials, spent as much as 119281 Australian dollars on business class air tickets, accommodation and other expenses. The total cost of travel in China was A $118284 (including A $29254 in "media coordination fees") and the total cost of travel to Japan was A $18,999.
Kriel (Peter Collier), leader of the House of Lords of the Western Australian Liberal Party, called government's trip "official travel" and bombarded government for failing to inquire about the full cost of the trip in early December. Mr. McGovern took half of government's top officials to China, spending as much as A $ two hundred and fifty thousand, while closing (Moora residential college), the Murra accommodation college, because of insufficient funding, was enough to support Murra for another academic year, he said.
"what are the priorities of McGovern government?" says Mr Kriel. Will people with half the government fly to China in business class, or take care of people in remote parts of Western Australia, especially those who are about to enroll in non-residential schools next year? Government can't explain the cost properly at all. It's a business trip. "
He said he understood the purpose of government's trip, but wondered about the size of the trip, "especially when government asked us to tighten our belts and close camp schools." Mr Kriel conceded that the controversy would not lead to the fall of Labour's government, but only to the fact that Labour government, which had an overwhelming majority of advantages, thought it could do whatever it wanted.
