Christ, these parliamentary expense scandals keep on coming don’t they?
You’d think Sussan Ley stepping aside as Health Minister would basically be the end of the issue, along with the MP’s career. But unlike Bronwyn Bishop, who pointlessly jumped in yesterday to call us all dogs (we already know that Bishop god keep up), Ley’s scandal continues to grow even after claiming its required scalp.
Since the story of Ley’s dodgy Gold Coast trip broke, we’ve heard of a bunch of Liberal politicians making similarly subsidised flights, including: Tony Abbott, who made former Liberal politician Santo Santoro’s 60th party on a Brisbane trip; Mathias Cormann, who claimed for a flight to last year’s AFL Grand Final; and, in maybe the most nakedly bourgeois incident, Julie Bishop, who went to a goddamn polo game on a trip to Melbourne.
Now, as these things often do, the scandal has come full circle, with yet another Ley plane trip under scrutiny.
But prepare yourself, dear reader: this is not just your average, extremely-suspicious-yet-also-extremely-commonplace commercial flight paid for by us, the Australian public.
No, these were trips reportedly piloted by Ley herself, ones that cost us a buttload more money.
Ley, who got her commercial pilot’s licence at 20, has apparently been chartering flights around her own electorate for years, racking up 120 flights at a cost of about $210,000 since 2014.
But according to the SMH, she’s also apparently charged taxpayers more than $13,000 to pilot private charter planes along busy capital city routes; as travel records reveal, she charged $6,300 to fly from Canberra to Melbourne in July 2014, and $7000 to travel from Canberra to Adelaide in May 2015, for flights social media demonstrates she piloted herself.
And while she had official business for both trips, there isn’t really a reason she had to charter a plane in lieu of a cheaper commercial options. At least, no reason Ley’s spokesperson could provide when questioned on the matter:
“Sussan Ley’s travel claims are being independently reviewed by the Departments of Prime Minister and Cabinet and Finance.”“Ms Ley, who has stepped aside from her ministerial position, is co-operating fully with these reviews and will await their outcomes. At this stage, it would be premature and inappropriate to be commenting before the release of the findings of these thorough reviews.”
Now, as much of a non-answer as that is and dodgy as all of these trips sound, we might actually get some structural changes from this nonsense.
Acting special minister for state Kelly O’Dwyer was forced to reiterate tonight that the government would implement recommendations put forward by a review into parliamentary expenses, one that suggests clarifying what “official business” means for these kind of trips, was initiated by Bronwyn Bishop’s mess in 2015, and, with only three of 36 recommendations implemented since being published almost a year ago, had basically been ignored before Ley’s scandal.
Richard Di Natale is also arguing that the last few years’ worth of scandals is grounds for a national anti-corruption watchdog, although, compared to O’Dwyer’s plan, this one is much less likely to happen. Because c’mon, it’s the Greens, everyone’s favourite wholesome, powerless scamps.
Still, all things considered, who knew being a politician could be this much borderline-corrupt fun?
Source: SMH.
Photo: Supplied.
