Measures to stamp out MPs' travel rorts rely on a politicians' honour system and policing by the same department that oversaw a host of extraordinary taxpayer-funded trips, in changes described as ''weak'' and ''minimal''.

Under the new rules, politicians will continue to monitor their own expense claims, requiring them to simply sign a declaration promising they have not done the wrong thing when they submit their expenses to the Department of Finance.

The changes also give the government the ability to name and shame politicians who file multiple incorrect claims in Parliament. If they are found to have done the wrong thing, they will have to repay the money and will be fined an extra 25 per cent of the value of their claims...

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/tony-abbotts-travel-rorts-reforms-labelled-weak-20131109-2x8lu.html#ixzz2kC1PLAmr

That is going to hurt...

From the Monthly:

http://www.themonthly.com.au/blog/nick-feik/2013/11/05/1383613783/barnaby-joyce-indian-wedding-and-big-new-coal-mine

June 2011:
Billionaire mining magnate Gina Rinehart flew Coalition MPs, including the Liberal Party's deputy leader Julie Bishop and Nationals Senate leader Barnaby Joyce, to take part in a sumptuous three day-wedding of a prominent Indian industrialist in Hyderabad. The Reddy family company, infrastructure behemoth GVK, is seeking a controlling stake in coal mines owned by the Hancock group. 
(The Age, 17/6/2011)

November 2013:
The federal government has approved a massive coalmining project in central Queensland that will be the largest in the country. The environment minister, Greg Hunt, approved the 37,380-hectare Kevin's Corner project on Friday. The mine (will) be operated by a joint India-Australia consortium, GVK-Hancock. 
(Guardian, 4/11/2013)

Correspondence from Barnaby Joyce to G.V. Sanjay Reddy, November 2013:

Dear Sanjay,

I haven’t seen you since the wedding! 

Gina probably told you, I’m a minister now. Not for mining, mind you, hold your horses!

Julie, Teresa and I were feeling a bit ashamed because we didn’t bring your family a gift. Gina was in such a rush to get us on her plane we were caught totally empty-handed. And she left straight after, too, with the jet! Always in such a rush. Luckily my old mate the Australian taxpayer got me home safe and sound.

Anyway, we put our heads together and up popped the perfect thing – something great for your whole family. Not from us, beg yours, it's from the whole Australian people. At long last, may we present… federal approval for your very own Aussie coal mine! 

Greg (have you met Greg?) just asks if you could burn the coal back in India, otherwise it’ll cost us a fortune to ‘offset’ your ‘emissions’. Otherwise, no worries, it’s all yours!

Sorry it took so long. We had no idea it would be another couple of years before we got into government. Then Julie wanted to get you a think tank, but I knew better, right?

Your daughter’s wedding was absolutely mind-blowing, one of the greatest events I’ve ever experienced. I danced with the Brad Pitt of India, for goodness sake. (I have to tell you though, Mr Khan was more like the Russell Crowe of India by the end of the night, if you know what I mean – running around in his grundies!) 

And your daughter looked like a Bollywood starlet herself. That young Siddharth is a lucky man.

Anyway, it was amazing, and a far cry from my wedding. You had 6000 guests and the cream of Indian society. Me and Natalie got married in a tent, with 6000 head of sheep in the back paddock and the cream of a few cows.

I hope I can show you a few local customs when you come to Queensland next, like the missus' leg of lamb, and we can have that hit of tennis we talked about. 

I’m sure your new venture will be a great success, mate. Our coal is the best in the world. 

Give me a call if you’re having any problems.

Cheers, 
Barnaby

The Federal Government has defended the use of an RAAF jet to fly Western Australian MPs and their family members to Canberra for the opening of Parliament.

The 44th Parliament will be officially opened tomorrow by Governor-General Quentin Bryce in a day of pomp and ceremony.

Yesterday, WA-based ministers, backbenchers, spouses and their children flew out of Perth bound for Canberra on one of the Government's 737 Boeing business jets.

The West Australian has reported that the fuel costs alone for the VIP flight will be more than $30,000.

But Leader of the House Christopher Pyne has defended the flight.

"It's probably cheaper than bringing them all individually on Qantas or Virgin," he said, while waiting for his own Adelaide-based family to arrive at Canberra Airport on a commercial flight.

Liberal MPs Don Randall and Steve Irons, who have both had to repay thousands of dollars in travel entitlements, were on the RAAF plane.

They made the trip the day after the Government moved to tackle the irksome issue of MP entitlements, by announcing new guidelines.

Tomorrow's opening will feature a welcome to country on the Parliament House forecourt, the official swearing-in of MPs and the election of a new speaker.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-11/mining-production-surge-forecast-to-offset-falling-investment/5082052

For Attorney-General George Brandis, the Smith wedding was a chance to “foster collaboration” with the journalist and was therefore “primarily a professional rather than a social engagement”.

Under extreme public pressure, both politicians decided to refund taxpayers for their wedding travel; but nobody forced them to. What the system desperately needs is independent oversight - a policy that has been advocated by Fairfax Media and put before Parliament by the Greens.

The second reason Abbott's reforms do not pass muster is that the department charged with enforcing the rules has proven itself to be opaque, and incapable of ensuring confidence in the system.

Take Abbott's toughest measure to police expenses – the fines. At first blush it sounds like a fine deterrent to make politicians not only repay their wrongly claimed expenses but cough up an extra 25 per cent on top.

But who will be judging a claim's legitimacy? This is the job of the Department of Finance, and one of the great lessons of the past six weeks has been that the policemen are either unwilling or incapable of imposing themselves on those they are supposed to be policing.

Take, for example, the AFP's announcement that it would not be investigating the alleged misuse of MPs entitlements but had forwarded them to Finance.If you believe the West Australian MP Don Randall, the Finance Department could not judge conclusively whether his trip to Cairns was a legitimate use of taxpayers' money. This is significant because both Liberal and Labor politicians privately describe Randall's travel as among the most egregious examples of entitlements abuse. Yet Finance was apparently confused.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/travel-rorts-abbotts-fig-leaf-wont-end-age-of-entitlement-20131112-

It is hard to imagine a group less ready or able to govern than Tony Abbott's Coalition, says managing editor David Donovan, who wonders how much damage they will be allowed to do to Australia.

It is hard to imagine a group of people less ready and less suited to gaining Government than new Prime Minister Tony Abbott and his ragtag bunch of senior ministers.

The PM spent the years prior to reaching the pinnacle standing around in hard hats and high viz in factories and shops and warehouses, filleting fish and driving forklifts, before mouthing a few three word slogans to an adoring press pack and then swiftly running off before the first sign of a probing question. And if he wasn't doing that, he was usuallyriding his bike across the country, or doing triathlons, all the while claiming living away from home allowance from the public purse. Of course, he was far from alone among his colleagues in helping himself to public funds for personal gain.

Never did Abbott articulate a vision for Australia — all we knew was what he wanted to "stop" or "end". Stop the boats, stop the waste, stop the spending, end the carbon tax, end the mining tax, stop the NBN and, overall, stop the socialists from ruining the country for good simple honest conservative people — people like him. In all, negative, short-sighted aspirations from an apparently petty, small-minded man.

His first move in Parliament today on his first full sitting day as PM was to introduce legislation to repeal the carbon tax – a modest climate mitigation measure which has been shown to have caused virtually no inflation and absolutely no damage to our economy, yet has significantly lowered Australia's greenhouse gas emissions – demonstrates his limited aspirations admirably.

Before the election, Abbott seldom allowed himself to be put in a situation where a decent question might emerge at which he couldn't quickly baulk and run away from. Shows like the ABC's 7.30, Lateline and Q&A – as sympathetic to conservative politics as they have apparently become under the expert tutelage of managing director Mark Scott, the former Liberal Party staffer – were mostly declared off-limits by Abbott's minders because of his habit of blurting out something highly inappropriate, egregiously offensive, inadvertently revealing, utterly idiotic and/or an outright lie.

http://www.independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/tony-abbott-and-his-ragtag-bunch,5888

The Prime Minister's office is vetting all overseas travel by Coalition politicians, senior federal minister Eric Abetz has confirmed.

MPs and senators must now receive approval before taking overseas study trips, sponsored travel and private holidays, Senator Abetz told a Senate Estimates hearing.

The confirmation was in response to a request for clarification sought by Labor senator Penny Wong regarding a report that the Prime Minister's chief of staff had been personally ruling on the travel requests.

"There is one statement in [the report] which says it is the Prime Minister's expectation that no absences from Parliament will be sought and, where leave is unavoidable, approval from the whip, etc, is also required," Senator Wong said.

"This is including backbenchers, requesting approval before overseas study trips, sponsored travel and private holidays ... I'm wondering if you can cast any light on that."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-19/pm-vetting-all-travel-by-coalitions-politicians-abetz-says/5100880

Tony Abbott has wound back the ministerial code of conduct to allow federal ministers to keep shares in public companies they would have been forced to sell under the Gillard and Rudd governments.

The code outlines rules and procedures ministers must follow to avoid conflicts of interest. The new standards leave it open for ministers to hold shares in public companies that do not relate to their portfolios, at odds with the standards set out by the previous government.

Under the code of conduct created by the Gillard government, ministers were required to get rid of all public and private shareholdings other than some forms of managed funds.

“In recognition of the collective responsibility that ministers bear in relation to cabinet decisions, these standards require that ministers divest themselves of investments and other interests in any public or private company or business, other than public superannuation funds or publicly listed managed funds or trust arrangements,” the 2010 guidelines read.

This language is removed from Abbott’s code, and is replaced by the phrase: “In recognition of the responsibilities that ministers bear, these standards require that ministers make arrangements to avoid conflicts of interests arising from their investments.”

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/16/tony-abbott-winds-back-code-of-conduct-to-let-ministers-to-keep-shares-in-public-companies

Is there a better way to eliminate conflicts of interest other than to make conflicts of interest acceptable? Easy, simple, cut the crap, no problemo, no conflict, plenty of rortability... All now officially recognised and accepted rortability like a badge of nobility...

The fundraiser Prime Minister Tony Abbott attended that sparked a furore over his use of entitlements was held for cabinet mInister Kevin Andrews, Fairfax Media has learned. 

Mr Abbott skipped a traditional dinner with government senators to attend the fundraiser, held in Melbourne on Monday night. His trip became front page news when he admitted to his partyroom that he booked a visit to a cancer centre early the next morning, so the interstate trip could be justified under entitlements.

Mr Abbott stunned his colleagues with the comment because although it is a common for MPs to combine official and party duties on trips, it is rare for a politician to admit to the practice for the purposes of entitlements.  

Mr Andrews refused to comment when asked for details about Monday night's fundraiser including how much it raised.  One source said it was being noted that the Prime Minister was fundraising for a federal MP two years out from the next federal election and the Victorian state election less than one hundred days away. But Fairfax Media understands Mr Abbott held a similar fundraiser for the state campaign the week prior. 

Mr Abbott was quizzed about his priorities when he arrived an hour late to the regular meeting of Coalition MPs. Government senator Ian Macdonald publicly berated the leader saying the joint partyroom was the only time backbenchers had an opportunity to discuss issues with the executive. 

See toon at top...