News Corp have added up Anthony Albanese’s travel costs with the headline ‘our $7 million man’ and so of course that came up in the breakfast TV slots this morning.

Tony Burke was asked about it and told the Nine network:

I’ve got to say. If you do no work, you run up no bills. That’s the nature of it. And if you have a look, if you have a look at the costs that are referred to, a whole lot of them, for example, are the overseas travel that has protected a whole lot of Australian jobs that were previously, previously gone. Like the, the changes in our trade with China compared to where we were at in 2022. You work in the wine industry, the barley industry, the beef industry. There’s a whole lot of industries there, where Australian jobs were being lost, where the Australian economy was taking a huge hit. That doesn’t change by accident. Changes by, you know, by visiting other countries, building relationships and delivering for Australia. I can tell you every time, I reckon most Prime Ministers would rather be at home and rather be with the Australian people. But the reality is, as a nation, you know, people are in work and are being better paid and the economy’s going more strongly because a whole lot of those things have been done. And, yeah, they run up bills, but it’s completely, completely in the national interest.

The very next questions? WHEN WILL ALBANESE MEET TRUMP. So travel is fine if its approved by that particular media outlet, we suppose.