Ratepayers funded more than $28,000 of mayoral travel during Bruce Harwood’s most recent tenure in the position, according to councillor expenses data.
The expenses included trips to Poland and Italy for the UNESCO Creative Cities Network annual meetings in 2018 and 2019 respectively.
The 2018 trip featured stops in Scotland and Italy, while Cr Harwood took leave in Italy either side of his 2019 journey to Fabriano.
He also travelled twice in a fortnight to Kuala Lumpur mid last year as AirAsia X launched its new Avalon Airport service.
Council documents revealed a total travel spend of $28,319 for the Office of the Mayor from November 2017 to August 2019.
The amount included expenses and hotel accommodation for both international and domestic trips, like a December 2018 delegation to Canberra to meet with federal politicians.
“All expenses I’ve claimed have been in line with the council policy,” Cr Harwood told the Indy recently.
The previous mayor’s several international “junkets” angered Geelong Ratepayers, while dozens of Indy readers slammed the trips on social media.
“No amount of public relations can justify them,” Geelong Ratepayers’ Andrew Senia said at the time.
“The measure is in the result and so far there is no evidence of anything tangible. They must stop.”
Cr Harwood taking leave in Italy either side of the 2019 conference also drew criticism from councillors.
But Cr Harwood said council’s attendance at the various meetings put Geelong on the world stage and developed connections to benefit the city in the long term.
At Fabriano he campaigned for Geelong to host the Cities of Design meeting in 2021 and his attendance uncovered international opportunities for local designers, according to council.
Some Indy readers congratulated Cr Harwood on social media for raising Geelong’s international profile.
