The Australian Federal Police say an internal government investigation will be undertaken into an allegation House of Representatives Speaker Bronwyn Bishop misused her travel entitlements.

Labor yesterday wrote to the AFP asking it to investigate the Speaker's use of a chartered helicopter to attend a Victorian Liberal Party fundraiser last year.

Mrs Bishop said she believed the use was within travel rules but would repay the $5,227 cost to "avoid any doubt".

The AFP has said it would refer Labor's allegation to the Department of Finance which would conduct an internal investigation.

It could then ask for an explanation from Mrs Bishop or refer the matter back to the federal police.

Last November Mrs Bishop chartered a helicopter for a 90-kilometre trip from Melbourne to a party fundraiser near Geelong.

The cost of the trip was revealed in the Speaker's six-monthly report to the Finance Department.

Her Liberal colleagues conceded the trip did not pass the "sniff test" and called on Mrs Bishop to provide an explanation.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-18/afp-says-internal-probe-will-look-at-bishops-travel-claim/6630106

 

The poll is quite clear, despite not being "scientific" (no polls are ever scientific, they all are relative to statistical anomalies and the slants of questions) and here the poll clearly shows a MASSIVE trend... (no "scientific" anomaly could explain this.)

Ms Bishop should resign... For Turdy to support her in this fudge of entitlement, about five times bigger than what Slipper was driven out of parliament for, shows he is a two faced hypocrite. But then we knew that.

 

And to those who think Bronwyn has done nothing wrong "because her expenses are on the public record" I would say that being on the public record with flaunting the system, is not very smart, nor savvy, nor elegant... and it is repugnant. It smells of old dead fish left in a barrel of slop.

 

April 21, 2012:

Media player: "Space" to play, "M" to mute, "left" and "right" to seek.

VIDEO: Tony Abbott on Peter Slipper (ABC News)

Then opposition leader Tony Abbott says Mr Slipper must step aside while "these extremely serious allegations" are investigated by the AFP.

"It is very important that the prime minister [Julia Gillard] act swiftly to require the speaker to step aside," he says.

"And it is very important that the Australian Federal Police quickly investigate these matters so that they can be resolved as soon as humanly possible."

The next day, Mr Slipper steps aside as speaker but emphatically denies the allegations.

 

The fallout continued over the Speaker’s decision to charter a helicopter from Melbourne to Geelong and back last year at a cost of $5227.27. More details also emerged about other charter flights to the NSW regional towns of Young and Nowra. 

The department of finance is investigating the flights, which the speaker revealed on the weekend. The cost of these flights are not listed in Bishop’s entitlements report for the period from July to December 2014.

Bishop’s trip to Young, two hours west of Canberra, occurred five days after the Geelong helicopter charter. She spoke at the invitation-only event at the Young Services Club on 10 November 2014, which was organised by Hume Liberal MP Angus Taylor. The cost was $50 a head, with cheques payable to the Young Branch, NSW Division, Liberal Party of Australia.

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/jul/20/bronwyn-bishop-defiant-despite-more-charter-flights-adding-to-expenses-row

Bronwyn Bishop has been formally invited to address a Labor Party fundraiser in attempt to further embarrass the under-fire Speaker over her spending habits.

A Melbourne ALP branch sent the invitation to Mrs Bishop - who is an avowed monarchist - on Tuesday. Money raised from the event to be donated to the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre.

The event can take place at a time and date of your choosing but the sooner the better 

On Saturday, while facing questions about her use of entitlements to take a $5227 helicopter charter flight from Melbourne to attend a Liberal Party fundraiser in Geelong, Mrs Bishop said that as Speaker: "I speak to community groups, I'll speak to Liberal groups, I'll even speak to Labor groups". 

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/choppergate-stunt-bronwyn-bishop-invited-to-address-labor-party-fundraiser-20150722-gihnjm.html#ixzz3gaX5PpwE

 

Under-fire Speaker Bronwyn Bishop has defended charging taxpayers thousands for expensive car trips on days when she went to the opera.

A Fairfax Media analysis of Mrs Bishop's travel entitlement claims between 2010 and 2013 showed the Speaker has charged taxpayers more than $3300 across at least eight days she attended the theatre and other arts events.

On February 2, 2013, Mrs Bishop - then shadow special minister of state and for seniors - charged taxpayers more than $1000 for the use of a car.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/bronwyn-bishop-expense-scandal-speaker-defends-trips-to-the-opera-20150722-gihrxv.html#ixzz3gb2HOAIu

Doing the email rounds:

House of Representatives Speaker Bronwyn Bishop has defended her use of taxpayer funds to attend a colleague's wedding.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has placed Mrs Bishop "on probation" for her use of taxpayer funds to charter a helicopter to attend a Liberal Party function in Victoria in 2014.

Mrs Bishop is paying back the $5,227 cost of the charter, plus a 25 per cent penalty.

Mrs Bishop's office has now confirmed the Speaker claimed the $600 cost of return flights to Albury in 2006, from where she travelled to former frontbencher Sophie Mirabella's wedding in Wangaratta.

read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-24/bishop-defends-taxpayer-funded-travel-to-wedding/6646312
Kick her out, Turdy... Please.

The way Long tells it, the delay stretched on for 10 minutes and then 20. Everyone else was on the plane and wanted to know: what the hell was going on?

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"It was because she didn't get the seat that she prefers. She likes the front row of business class," Long says. "But business class was full with the exception of two seats. She was given the seat with no one next to her but she still wasn't happy."

After half an hour or so Bishop was finally coaxed on board, Long says. If she didn't take her assigned seat the plane would leave without her.

"She made her displeasure very clear when she got on to the aircraft," Long says.

Long was the senior attendant and his underlings were visibly scared of this formidable woman. He decided he'd give Bishop, then a Howard government minister, the best personal service he could in an effort to smooth things over.

It didn't go well.

"She wouldn't take anything. She was like a spoilt child," he says. "I just thought it was incredible. She's paid by the Australian taxpayer. To even get into her mind that she's entitled to a particular seat just floors me."

Long retired from Qantas a decade ago. While the airline frowns upon staff – current and former – speaking to the media, he says he felt compelled to tell his story when news broke last week of Bishop's now notorious chopper charter.

Long admits he's never been a Coalition supporter and Bishop's spokesman, Damien Jones, denies the story. "We take whatever seats we're given," he says.

But if Long's account is true, it's yet another illustration – as if we needed one – that Bishop long ago lost touch with the people she is supposed to represent.

Not that it seems to matter. While stories of Bishop's profligacy have emerged almost every day since the chopper story broke, her position as Speaker now appears safe.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/bishop-controversy-subsides-and-nothing-has-changed-20150725-gijfcv.html#ixzz3gyz95SeR

The Foreign Minister's comments declining to support the Speaker are significant given her position as Deputy Liberal Leader and that she is considered an ally of Mrs Bishop.

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Mrs Bishop is already under fire for billing taxpayers for airfares to rural Victoria to attend the wedding of former federal Liberal MP Sophie Mirabella in 2006.

The Speaker's office has defended the claiming of entitlements at the time of both weddings, citing meetings with anonymous figures relating to parliamentary committee work, but is refusing to reveal who Mrs Bishop met.

A spokesman for the Speaker defended the use of entitlements to travel to Brisbane for Mrs Gambaro's wedding as it coincided with committee work scheduled for the next day.

"She travelled up there for official purposes as committee chair," he said.

"The Speaker had a meeting at the Brisbane CPO the next morning with an academic who had relevant experience in the area the committee was examining which was illicit drugs," the spokesman said.

Speaking from New York, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said on Wednesday there was no doubt the issue would dominate Parliament when it resumes on Monday week.

"I understand that the Labor party will seek to use this to destabilise question time for example and I'm sure Speaker Bishop will take that into account as she considers her position," Ms Bishop told the Nine Network's Today program.

"But I believe it's important the Department of Finance be able to carry out an investigation," she added.

MPs will return to Canberra on August 11 and Labor is likely to stage some sort of protest against the Speaker in that week.

But Labor's manager of opposition business Tony Burke told Fairfax Media he expected the Prime Minister would dismiss the Speaker before then.

"It's unbelievable to think Tony Abbott is so out of touch that he would allow Bronwyn Bishop to still be in the Chair when Parliament returns," Mr Burke said.

"But if that's the absurdity we face, Labor will be calling it as we see it," he said.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/speaker-bronwyn-bishop-is-considering-her-position-amid-expenses-scandal-julie-bishop-20150728-giml2e.html#ixzz3hEbSYHKb

 

Speaker Bronwyn Bishop has apologised for "letting down" the Australian people but says she will not resign amid increasing pressure over her use of taxpayer-funded travel entitlements.

Mrs Bishop has been under scrutiny for more than two weeks, after it emerged she used taxpayers' money to charter a helicopter to fly in to a party fundraiser.

While continuing to maintain the spending was within entitlement, the Speaker has now fronted the media at an event in regional Victoria to say sorry.

"I am so apologetic to the Australia people for letting them down and I will be working very hard to make sure things are right," she said.

The angst was triggered by the revelation that she used public money to pay for a charter helicopter to travel a short distance from Melbourne to Geelong for a political fundraiser last year.

read more http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-30/bronwyn-bishop-says-sorry-for-letting-down-australian-people/6658860

 

Bronwyn should go and remove the smell of high corruption from this turdy government... Oh I see there's so much stink in all the lies from Turdy and his cronies that a bit more crap-stench won't foul the air of saturated double standards too much more...

Maintain the rage ! See toon at top. 

Ms Bishop's apology has been greeted with bemusement by colleagues, who say after nearly three weeks of the Speaker refusing to say sorry, her mea culpa was too late and self-serving.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten wasted no time dismissing it as a tactical manouevre aimed at Mrs Bishop's own survival.

"There's a difference between saying sorry because you mean it and saying sorry because you're about to get the sack," he said.

He said if Mrs Bishop was genuine, she would not have previously refused to apologise.

The Speaker - who is set to face a no-confidence motion if she survives in the job until Parliament resumes on August 10 - used a doorstop press conference in regional Victoria to admit for the first time that her use of a charter helicopter to travel to and from a Liberal Party fundraiser in Geelong, at a cost of more than $5000, was "just ridiculous" and "inexcusable".

"It was too much money," she told reporters. "It just looked wrong. Although it's within the rules, it just doesn't look right and therefore I am apologising and repaying." 

Senior Coalition figures are in no doubt as to the scale of the confidence crisis around the Speaker, with such ministers as Treasurer Joe Hockey displaying frustration at having to answer questions on the subject.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/bronwyn-bishop-expenses-scandal-tony-abbott-goes-to-ground-as-speaker-finally-says-sorry-20150730-gio0g7.html#ixzz3hN59zDLM

Turdy and Bronwyn should resign... They both are doing a lousy job for this country. All the Libs (CONservatives) should go...

 

Bronwyn Bishop claimed taxpayer-funded travel benefits for her work as a committee chairwoman on more than 15 occasions for times and places when the committee was not conducting hearings, a review of historic travel claims reveals.

Bishop, who is under increasing pressure to stand aside as Speaker over the travel claim controversy, said on Thursday she would repay claims made for secret meetings with unnamed sources associated with her committee work, which coincided with the interstate weddings of two Liberal colleagues.

read more: http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/jul/30/bronwyn-bishop-expenses-row-historic-claims-reveal-another-15-trips