Travel booking company Helloworld has officially apologised to finance minister Mathias Cormann for giving him free flights back in July of 2017, after reports from The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald revealed that the minister never paid for them.
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Cormann booked the $2780.82 of flights to Singapore for himself and his family directly through Helloworld CEO Andrew Burnes, who happens to be the federal treasurer of the Liberal Party. In estimates today, Cormann said that he did not notice that the $2780.82 amount had not been charged to his credit card, because I guess that’s what life is like when you earn just shy of $360,000 a year. In statement, Cormann said that he had nothing to do with the government awarding Helloworld a $21 million contract.
The letter from Helloworld says that Cormann gave his credit card details with the intention that he be charged for the flights, but that this was forgotten due to a “regrettable administrative error“. The letter also stresses that the flights were standard economy fares with no perks.
Cormann has since paid for the flights in full.
You can read the whole thing below:
Letter from Helloworld to @MathiasCormann apologising for ‘administrative error’ over Singapore flights #auspol pic.twitter.com/1KCl7FbLbq
— Claire Bickers (@claire_bickers) February 18, 2019
