Billionaire Anthony Pratt, Australia’s richest man hosted Bill Shorten and several of his Labor comrades at his Melbourne residence, Raheen. Deputy leader Tanya Plibersek, Katie Gallagher, Michael Danby and other MPs were pictured walking into the home, while Shorten went through the back entrance. Broadcaster Jane Marwick says it’s ‘telling’ that the Labor leader did not want to be seen entering the expensive gates.
Source: Townsville Bulletin
In the 1990s, Shorten flew to Easter Island, Argentina and Cuba in Pratt’s private jet:
When Labor leader Bill Shorten was palling around with the billionaire price fixer Richard Pratt in the 1990s and early 2000s, he went on a vacation to Easter Island, Argentina and Cuba.
Covering the long distances wouldn’t have been tiring. Shorten and his first wife, Deborah Beale, flew in the Pratts’ private jet.
Source: AFR.com
Interestingly, the Easter Island ecosystem is thought to have died under a plague of rats:
Under these conditions, ‘Rats would have an initial impact, eating all of the seeds. With no new regeneration, as the trees die, deforestation can proceed slowly’, … eventually, the degeneration of trees, led to the downfall of the rats and eventually of the humans.
Source: Smithsonian.com
Doesn’t this parallel Shorten’s policy of taxing productive members of the community?