The flight upgrade row in Parliament has now snared Opposition leader Peter Dutton, who revealed a previous request to billionaire Gina Rinehart.
Dutton has previously declared flights offered by Rinehart’s company Hancock Prospecting, but early this week insisted he had never personally requested to use the mining magnate’s personal jet.
But yesterday, he was forced to backtrack when he admitted his staff had spoken to Rinehart’s office about using the aircraft to fly the Opposition Leader from Queensland to Sydney for a Bali memorial service.
Dutton said he asked to use the jet owned by Australia’s richest woman to save taxpayers the $40,000 fee of flying aboard an RAAF plane.
“I thought that was very expensive and the cheaper option for the taxpayer was for my office to speak to, to Mrs Rinehart’s …