She's known as the flying pollie but there are some trips Sussan Ley probably wishes she hadn't taken.
In the first half of 2015, the pilot-turned-MP spent eight nights on the Gold Coast at taxpayers' expense, including the day she spontaneously purchased an investment property at auction.
She claimed more than $18,000 in flights, accommodation and other expenses for her and her partner, Graham Johnston, as they frequented the Gold Coast, where he also owns an investment property and has business dealings.
In fact over the past three years, Ms Ley has spent nearly 40 nights on the Gold Coast, which is far more than any of her federal political counterparts.
Her expense log includes a $12,356 charter flight from Coolangatta to Parkes in March of 2015, plus new year's eve flights in 2013 and 2014, when she was attending functions hosted by BRW Rich Lister and Liberal Party donor Sarina Russo.
Ms Ley has volunteered to pay back expenses coinciding with the purchase of the investment property but has nevertheless stood aside as minister for health, aged care and sport pending an investigation of her travel expenses.
She told reporters on Monday she had not broken any rules and expected to return to the ministry.
"I'm offering all of my records because...I have nothing to hide," she said.
Ley lacks obvious allies
Ms Ley is well liked by colleagues and broadly viewed as a competent minister, although she does not have any obvious allies.
NSW senator Arthur Sinodinos has been asked to act in Ms Ley's role, a happy irony for the former assistant treasurer who was himself stood aside in 2014 during a NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption inquiry into a company he chaired.
Albury-based Ms Ley is a mother-of-three who maintains a pilot's licence and has postgraduate degrees in tax law and accounting.
She was elected to federal Parliament for the first time in 2001.
Her Farrer electorate covers 126,590 square kilometres, or about one-sixth of NSW. She flies a Cessna 182 and in social media profile pictures the MP is pictured smiling at the controls.
Ms Ley served as a parliamentary secretary and assistant education minister.
Her real breakthrough came in December 2014 when Tony Abbott appointed her health minister and she became one of two women in cabinet.
Rebuilding relations with doctors
Along with helping Mr Abbott look more women-friendly, Ms Ley's appointment was a circuit-breaker for the Coalition's disastrous GP co-payment policy. Her first task was to dump the idea and begin rebuilding relations with the powerful doctor's union.
Despite overseeing Medicare as part of her health portfolio, Ms Ley was largely absent from last year's election campaign.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has resisted post-election pressure to dump Ms Ley in the wake of Labor's highly successful "Mediscare" campaign.
Ms Ley has been eyeing the $20 billion private health insurance industry for savings and has embarked on a reclassification of policies with simplified gold, silver and bronze ratings.
Other big ticket items in the health portfolio include the $500 million Biomedical Translation Fund and $1 billion in savings being made in aged care over the next four years.
Ms Ley has apologised for making an error of judgment and sought to demonstrate respect for the need for wise spending of taxpayers' money.
"I recognise that for people who live in my electorate, who work hard, who understand about living on fixed incomes and have experienced a life I've experienced in the past, this has a look that I don't understand those issues," she said.
"The opposite is the case."
