Exclusive: Story published in Daily Telegraph was based on false figures for travel expenditure purporting to be from council’s annual report

This article is more than 10 months old

This article is more than 10 months old

Angus Taylor baselessly accused Sydney’s lord mayor of driving up carbon emissions by spending $15m on travel, a claim that was later backed up with a doctored council document provided to the Daily Telegraph, which reported the figure.

On 30 September, the Telegraph reported on page three and online that the “City of Sydney Council’s outlay on flights outstrips that of Australia’s foreign ministers”.

The story quoted a letter sent by Taylor to the mayor, Clover Moore, saying the council’s annual report for 2017-18 “shows your council spent $1.7m on international travel and $14.2m on domestic travel”, contrasting the spending with Moore’s declaration of a climate emergency in June.

Angus Taylor won't say what PM's 'negative globalism' comments mean for climate talks Read more

After the story was published, Moore vigorously disputed the figures on Twitter. In subsequent emails between the Telegraph and Moore’s office, the paper justified the figures using a document supplied by Taylor’s office, purporting to be the council’s annual report.

City of Sydney’s publicly available annual report shows councillors spent $1,727.77 on overseas travel and $4,206.32 on domestic travel. In total, the council spent $229,000 on travel during 2017-18, under its $300,000 budget.

But the document provided to the Telegraph shows wildly different figures, which appeared in a strange format unlike the one used elsewhere in the annual report.

It is unclear who altered the document. There is no suggestion that Taylor himself was responsible.

The council is adamant that it did not alter the figures. It said it had checked the metadata to establish that the report had not been changed on its website since being posted in November 2018.

On the Sunday night before publication of the Telegraph’s story, the council spokesman tried desperately to convince the Telegraph its story was wrong. Moore’s staff had not yet seen Taylor’s letter.

It was waiting for them in the office the next morning.

Timeline The dispute over City of Sydney's travel spending Show Hide Sydney’s lord mayor, Clover Moore, declares a climate emergency, which is endorsed by the council. 29 September: The energy and emissions reduction minister, Angus Taylor, writes to Clover Moore, claiming the council’s annual report “shows your council spent $1.7m on international travel and $14.2m on domestic travel” in 2017-18. The Daily Telegraph publishes a story on page three and online accusing Moore of hypocrisy over the council’s emissions. The story quotes a letter from Taylor which says the council spent more than $15m on domestic and international travel.

Moore disputes the Telegraph story and asks the reporter to provide evidence of this claim. The reporter provides a page from the council’s annual report. The page contains two figures purporting to show the council spent “$14.2” in expenses on interstate travel and “$1.7” on overseas visits. Moore checks the annual report: on page 14 it shows councillors spent $4,206.32 on interstate travel and $1,727.77 on overseas visits. Moore angrily disputes the story with Taylor via Twitter. Moore writes to Taylor asking him to “ correct a stark error in your letter” saying the $15m figure was grossly inaccurate. Moore lodges complaint with the Press Council.

Taylor’s letter began by outlining how the government had a comprehensive set of policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, before telling Moore: “You might be interested to know that there are many practical ways local councils can take real and meaningful action to reduce their carbon emissions.

“One way was to limit unnecessary air travel,” he said, before quoting the erroneous figures.

Meanwhile, that morning the Telegraph journalist was being asked by the council to stand up the claims she had made in the story by quoting Taylor.

Angus Taylor did not disclose financial interest at grassland meeting, committee hears Read more

“Taylor’s office printed a copy of your annual report out on September 6,” she wrote in an email to the council’s communications manager.

“I have a copy of those relevant pages which I’ll forward you in a second email. But they say that the cost of interstate visits was $14.2 million and overseas visits was $1.7 million.

“If you look online now, that report has been changed or updated to say interstate visits were $4206 and overseas visits were $1727.”

A spokesman for the City of Sydney told the Guardian: “I think she was as upset to have been taken for a ride as we were.”

Taylor declined to answer detailed questions from Guardian Australia about the document, instead branding it a conspiracy theory by the lord mayor and saying: “I make no apologies.”

His letter sent Moore into a rage on Twitter.

Clover Moore (@CloverMoore) And the Minister, in briefing the Tele for this hatchet job news piece, told them the City spends $14m on flights and accommodation each year. This figure is grossly inaccurate. Last year, to cover the cost of travel – for our over 2,000 staff – the City spent just over $200,000.

Moore wrote to Taylor again on Tuesday saying she was referring the Daily Telegraph to the Press Council over its erroneous reporting and asking Taylor for his version of events.

“Could you verify The Daily Telegraph’s claims that the erroneous documents originated in your office, or is my office being misled by the newspaper’s journalists?” Moore wrote.

“It is my deep belief that in dealing with important and pressing issues, it is our responsibility as elected officials to deal in facts. Providing false information to journalists and the public further erodes the community’s confidence in elected representatives to lead and serve.”

Moore pointed out that the City of Sydney was the first government in Australia to be certified as carbon neutral in 2011 and has offset all emissions, including from flights, since then.

This week it signed an agreement to source 100% of its power from wind and solar and its emissions were down 25% to date on 2006.

On Thursday morning Taylor issued a statement saying: “I make no apology for suggesting that the Lord Mayor should take real and meaningful action to reduce the City of Sydney’s carbon emissions instead of hollow virtue-signalling through letters.”

“One way to reduce emissions is through limiting unnecessary air travel and I suggest that the Lord Mayor’s flights to Paris for the Women for Climate conference was an unnecessary indulgence.”

Moore, the City of Sydney’s chief executive, Monica Barone and her chief of staff, Shehana Teixeira, travelled to Paris in March to attend this year’s Women4Climate Summit.

The 2020 conference, which promotes the involvement of young women in action to counter the climate emergency, will be held in Sydney at the Town Hall.

A spokesman for the Daily Telegraph said: “The Daily Telegraph reported on the fact a letter was sent by Federal Minister for Energy Angus Taylor to Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore.

“The letter was newsworthy in its own right and we approached Ms Moore for comment. She disputed figures quoted in Mr Taylor’s letter. The Daily Telegraph accurately reported her response,” he said.