Victorian MPs sport a long list of free memberships and sponsored travel

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This was published 6 years ago

Victorian MPs sport a long list of free memberships and sponsored travel

By Adam Carey
Updated

It appears politics is a case of this sporting life for many of Victoria's MPs, but with a lot less rugby than the original British film.

Season memberships to the races and the Melbourne Cricket Club, and seats in AFL corporate boxes, at the Australian Open tennis and at the grand prix were among the sporty perks state MPs declared in Parliament on Thursday.

State MPs are each offered an annual Victoria Racing Club double pass.

State MPs are each offered an annual Victoria Racing Club double pass.Credit: Mal Fairclough

In the Register of Members' Interests, no fewer than eight MPs declared they were given a coveted annual pass to the MCG from the Melbourne Cricket Club in 2016-17.

MPs who declared they were in receipt of an MCC membership include Labor's Jane Garrett, Cesar Melhem, Mark Gepp and Anthony Carbines, Liberals Roma Britnell, Brad Battin and Richard Riordan, and Nationals MP Luke O'Sullivan.

Tennis, anyone? The Australian Open is also on the list of free tickets.

Tennis, anyone? The Australian Open is also on the list of free tickets.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Racing memberships were also dished out liberally, with 14 MPs declaring they were given annual passes.

Every Victorian MP is offered a rolling annual double pass to the Victoria Racing Club and a single pass to the Melbourne Cricket Club as a gift upon starting the job, until the day they leave politics.

Few MPs, however, have declared their passes in the register of interests. Some MPs choose to decline the offers.

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The register is a record of all gifts an MP received in the past year that exceeded $500 in value, as well as any other significant income source,

MPs also declared tickets to the grand prix at Albert Park.

MPs also declared tickets to the grand prix at Albert Park.Credit: Eddie Jim

It is designed to ensure politicians' pecuniary interests remain transparent.

Gifts often come in the form of travel. For example, several MPs declared they travelled to Israel as guests of the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council, including Opposition Leader Matthew Guy and his Liberal colleagues Tim Smith, David Southwick and Graham Watt.

The sponsored study tours of Israel are a perennial feature on the register.

Elsewhere, Rachel Carling-Jenkins, the former DLP upper house MP who defected to Cory Bernardi's Australian Conservatives, was sponsored on two overseas trips, including a conference of the anti-abortion and euthanasia Voice for Life group in New Zealand, and one to Korea as a guest of the Universal Peace Federation.

Minister for Families and Children Jenny Mikakos received a contribution from the World Hellenic Inter-Parliamentary Association towards her travel to a four-day conference in Athens.

And Liberal upper house MP Craig Ondarchie, who has Sri Lankan heritage, declared he was given ground transport and two nights' accommodation in Sri Lanka by the Colombo Chamber of Commerce.

Just one bottle of wine was pricey enough to have been declared.

Liberal upper house president Bruce Atkinson was given a bottle of Penfolds Grange by Fortune New City, a Yarraville-based property developer.

Mr Atkinson declared he donated the valuable bottle of wine to Guide Dogs for the Blind.

The register features a few curiosities: Ivanhoe MP Anthony Carbines was given "traditional garments" from the governments of Botswana and Ethiopia; Innovation and Trade Minster Philip Dalidakis received a "coffee set" from the mayor of Hanoi.

Sharon Knight, the outgoing Labor MP for Wendouree, declared a "Freedom of the Township" pass to Sovereign Hill.

Gold.

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