Parliament - and privileges !

The fact that Bob Carr, our Foreign minister - takes his wife with him on official business trips overseas will raise many eyebrows.    Of the nine trips undertaken between March and September this year, wife Helena has accompanied eight times and this has cost the Australian taxpayer $ 828,000, plus an extra $ 8,000 for meals and incidentals.

According to protocol, the spouse of a minister may travel if that is approved by the office of the Prime minister.  The Foreign minister has received this approval and he claims that his wife has enhanced the scope of developing personal relationships by speaking to women's groups and inspected aid projects.  He commented that Helena's ethnic background was helpful when lobbying for the support of Asian countries for Australia's bid for a seat on the UN Security council.

The problem is that this is a departure from previous practice.  Carr's predecessors rarely had their spouse accompany them and when they did it was usually because the host country had specifically issued a joint invitation.  It is inevitable that the fact that Carr has reversed this protocol will be noted by other ministers and their spouses and the practice could quickly become more widely followed.

Members of parliament are privileged people compared to ordinary Australians.    They earn a better than average salary and they get a superannuation entitlement that most people could only dream.  Most ministerial portfolios involve interstate and overseas travel, and ordinary backbenchers are entitled to several " study " trips during the life of each parliament.   Travel standards are set at a " comfortable " level in regard to hotel accommodation - and air travel is usually taken in " business class ", rather than the " cattle class " offered in " coach " or " economy ".

The question that needs to be asked is whether those travelling on parliamentary business should have their full attention focused on the task in hand, or whether the presence of a spouse will simply cause distraction and add to the cost of the journey.    The Prime minister is not accompanied by her partner on every occasion that she travels overseas and that should be at least a benchmark for ministerial travel.

The fact that Bob Carr's travel arrangements have become a news item will cause some spouse resentment at not being offered similar opportunities.   It is important that this whole matter be nipped in the bud because  if spousal travel morphs into general practice the business of this nation will change from serious negotiations - to the level of a " family junket ".