But the use of the plane for a routine meeting – as well as a winery tour – was unusual enough to prompt Toole, the then-leader of the NSW Nationals and deputy premier, to issue a directive to Steph Cooke, then the emergency services minister, about the appropriate use of RFS-owned aircraft.
Cooke, now a member of the shadow frontbench, also attended the memorial garden opening alongside senior emergency services executives and Rogers. She declined to comment on whether she was involved in approving the trip.
Asked about the letter, Toole told the Herald: “If concerns were raised I would’ve reinforced my expectations.”
Ministerial diaries show Saunders visited the De Iuliis winery in Pokolbin on August 6. In a social media post, De Iuliis thanked Saunders “and his lovely wife Karen joined us for a winery tour and tasting of our wines”. He also met Agnew Wines.
His ministerial gift register entries show he received gifts of wine with an estimated value of less than $500 from De Iuliis and Tyrells during the trip.
The revelation will put significant pressure on the Nationals’ leader less than a month after the resignation of now-former transport minister Jo Haylen over the use of a ministerial driver to take her to the Hunter Valley for lunch at a winery over the Australia Day weekend.
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Haylen’s resignation – which came after she admitted to using a ministerial vehicle for a second winery trip with her husband – led Premier Chris Minns to reform the use of taxpayer-owned cars and drivers.
Senior sources in both Labor and the former Coalition government said the accepted use of RFS planes was restricted to emergencies such as the Lismore floods, and not general travel by ministers and their staff.
In a statement, an RFS spokesman said the plane was initially meant to travel from Dubbo to Broken Hill after two events in Dubbo.
But after Saunders “expressed his disappointment” he would not be able to attend the second event – the opening of a memorial garden – due to “a prior commitment in the Hunter Valley”, Rogers offered to reroute the flight via Williamtown.
But when the pilot expressed concerns about “strong winds” and “the need to refuel” Saunders was flown directly to Williamtown by himself, before the plane returned to Dubbo just an hour later and eventually continued on to western NSW.
Flight logs show he flew from Dubbo City Regional Airport on the RFS plane at 11.12am, landing at the RAAF Base Williamtown near Newcastle at 11.46am. The same plane left the airport at 12.11pm arriving back in Dubbo at 1.04pm.
Saunders’ ministerial diaries show he spent two days in the Hunter where he visited a handful of wineries and held an industry roundtable that included the Hunter Valley Tourism and Wine Association.
Saunders said he met his wife in the Hunter, and that they did not use a ministerial vehicle or driver on the trip.
