Julie Bishop’s $30k flight from Perth to Canberra

by Elizabeth Minter | Aug 15, 2020 | Dubious Travel Claims, Liberal Party, QED

Dubious Travel Claims | Liberal Party | QED

Jet-setting at tax payers expense

Julie Bishop’s $30k flight from Perth to Canberra

October 2015

The then Foreign Minister had an empty government VIP jet fly from Canberra to Perth to pick up her and her partner from a charity dinner at a cost to taxpayers of at least $30,000, according to the Daily Telegraph.

Ms Bishop and David Panton were the only passengers on the taxpayer-funded RAAF Challenger Jet on the overnight flight from Perth to Canberra on October 18.

The deputy Liberal leader had completed her official public commitments a day earlier but stayed on in Perth for a private dinner for WA Telethon donors.

The Daily Telegraph reported that MPs from both sides of politics suggested Ms Bishop should have cancelled her dinner instead of charging taxpayers for the flight.

What's a rort?

Conflicts of Interest

Redirecting funding to pet hobbies; offering jobs to the boys without a proper tender process; secretly bankrolling candidates in elections; taking up private sector jobs in apparent breach of parliament’s code of ethics, the list goes on.

Deceptive Conduct

Claiming that greenhouse gas emissions have gone down when the facts clearly show otherwise; breaking the law on responding to FoI requests; reneging on promised legislation; claiming credit for legislation that doesn’t exist; accepting donations that breach rules. You get the drift of what behaviour this category captures.

Election Rorts

In the months before the last election, the Government spent hundreds of millions of dollars of Australian taxpayers’ money on grants for sports, community safety, rural development programs and more. Many of these grants were disproportionally awarded to marginal seats, with limited oversight and even less accountability.

Dubious Travel Claims

Ministerial business that just happens to coincide with a grand final or a concert; electorate business that must be conducted in prime tourist locations, or at the same time as party fundraisers. All above board, maybe, but does it really pass the pub test? Or does it just reinforce the fact that politicians take the public for mugs?

Julie Bishop’s $30k flight from Perth to Canberra

Julie Bishop’s $30k flight from Perth to Canberra

What's a rort?

Conflicts of Interest

Deceptive Conduct

Election Rorts

Dubious Travel Claims

Thank you!

Thank you!

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