Dinner with coaching royalty. Hundreds of AFL grand final tickets. Helicopter access to the Bathurst 1000. ROB FORSAITH looks into the weird and wonderful world of sporting gifts to MPs.
Of the various lurks and perks associated with becoming a federal MP, surely few can be as rewarding as free sporting tickets and memorabilia.
Yes, a base salary of $212,250 is nothing to sneeze at. Likewise travel and resettlement allowances.
But who can put a cost on walking into an AFL grand final without the need to worry about scalpers or hideously expensive hospitality packages (with experiences it turns out that money can buy)?
More than 200 AFL grand final freebies have been doled out to politicians over the past 13 years, a number that includes seats for their +1s (or in lifelong Richmond fan Daniel Tehan’s case, he and three +1s for the 2019 grand final thanks to NAB).
The AFL has done the…