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The Australian Broadcasting Corporation says that the grand giveaway trip Oprah Winfrey announced yesterday – John Travolta’s flying Oprah and 300 audience members (plus crew) to Australia – is going to cost local taxpayers more than $2.3 million, reports MyFoxNY.

Australia’s Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson said he had received the federal and state government funding in a bid to tempt Oprah Down Under in a major tourism boost for the country. He called the deal “a major coup.”

Meanwhile, The Sydney Daily Telegraph reports that the government is said to be contributing more than $1 million, “mostly in accommodation costs” for the 10-day trip that will take place in December. The Australian says a finale will be shot at the Sydney Opera House – which will be renamed the Sydney Oprah House for the occasion.

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