How much would you pay to to force a potentially uncomfortable flight on your political rival?

The Liberal boss offered herself as a prize at tonight’s fundraising auction at the Midwinter Ball in Canberra and the Climate 200 founder doubled the next highest bid – but he didn’t want the flight for himself.

Ley promised “a flight and a lunch you’ll never forget” for two people in her Cessna-182, with optional shearing lessons but mandatory “ripping yarns over a cold Australian lager”.

Holmes À Court said on X that the win meant Ley would spend a day flying 18-year-old bushfire survivor Katya Zheluk “and a climate scientist around regional NSW in the coming months”.

Zheluk, a member of the Climate 200 Future Leaders program, was highly critical of the Coalition’s climate change and nuclear energy policies under former leader Peter Dutton.

Ley, since taking over as opposition leader in May, has toned down the opposition’s pitch on nuclear, pushing to lift the nationwide ban but dropping the commitment to build seven nuclear plants, but is now facing a revolt from some in the Nationals who want to ditch net zero. Queensland’s Liberal National Party convention voted to scrap the target last week.

Speaking to The Project in January, Zheluk dubbed the nuclear approach a “classic fossil fuel lobby” tactic, proposing expensive alternatives to keep us “hooked on coal and gas”.

“Where I’m from, the Blue Mountains, we experienced the black summer bushfires in 2019 to 2020, and that was just devastating for some parts of our community,” she said.

“I mean, just 30 minutes down the road from me, there was complete devastation, the speed and the ferocity at which the fire came through. It was brutal. It was totally unprecedented.

“I mean, meanwhile, the fossil fuel companies were making record profits and they were donating to campaigns to delay climate action.”

Other top prizes at the auction included a game of tennis at The Lodge with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, bought by a man named Nathan Blamires for $13,232, and a Qantas business class return flight for two to London or Los Angeles.