Darwin Mayor Kon Vatskalis and two city employees charged ratepayers more than $8,000 to fly to Bali last month for a five-day trip at a five-star resort as part of a sister cities deal with Denpasar that Mr Vatskalis claimed would see 1000 “skilled workers” brought to Darwin to fill job vacancies.

The trip was the culmination of a two year effort by Mr Vatskalis to arrange the sister city relationship with the Indonesian city, with the stated aims of promoting “culture and tourism”, developing the “creative economy” and building “human resource capacity”.

Representatives from Charles Darwin University, Alana Kaye College, the NT Government, Tourism Top End, the Chamber of Commerce and NT Farmers also attended the trade trip.

While sister city arrangements are not uncommon, it is unusual for a mayor to lead an international trade delegation.

A “draft” itinerary of the trip had Mr Vatskalis spending five days in Bali, the first day of which was scheduled to be taken up with ceremonies and speeches after a “rest in hotel”.

Mr Vatskalis stayed at the Hyatt Regency Bali – a five star resort on the Sanur beach – which promises “an authentic experience combined with all the luxuries”. A council spokeswoman said the hotel was recommended to Mr Vatskalis by the City of Denpasar “due to the hotel’s high security standards”.

The spokeswoman said the travel costs for the Mayor totalled $2275.45 and the total for the entire city delegation was $8384.99. It was unclear however if the costs included hospitality expenses and allowances. The spokeswoman said other delegates paid for themselves.

Three days of the trip were made up of 14 presentations to “promote Darwin as a destination to study, work, live and do business to Denpasar officials and the businesses community,” the spokeswoman said, as well as the main attraction – the signing of the sister cities agreement. The spokeswoman said 267 attendees attended the seminars and the signing ceremony.

Documents presented at a recent council meeting stated that the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade was consulted before the trip.

Mr Vatskalis said in a statement on the council’s website that the trip involved discussions with schools in Bali, which he anticipated will ultimately result in 1000 skilled workers coming to Darwin from Denpasar.

However, councils do not have the power to provide visas to foreign nationals.

Mr Vatskalis said government staff from Migration NT also attended the delegation to provide details about work visas to Indonesians.

“We appreciate NTG working alongside us to ensure Indonesian students with an interest in Darwin have all the details they need to progress that interest into action,” Mr Vatskalis said in the statement.

“Immigration, temporary permissions to work and visa categories is a complex area to negotiate and the rules and requirements can change quickly, making Migration NT’s involvement critical to the success of our plan to bring 1000 skilled workers from Denpasar to Darwin.”

The City of Darwin already has five existing sister city agreements in place, which council has budgeted $30,000 – or $6000 each – to maintain annually. Council approved another $6000 to maintain the Denpasar agreement, bringing the annual total for all sister city arrangements to $36,000.

The spokeswoman said a “working group” has now been established by council to “advocate, facilitate and support the programs under the Sister City agreement”.

“The delegation to Denpasar presented an opportunity for working group members to discuss the priority critical programs for the next five years, which will lead to meaningful economic and cultural outcomes under the Darwin-Denpasar sister city arrangement,” she said.