Amid the furore about her taxpayer-funded travel to the Gold Coast, Sussan Ley declared "the team comes first" when explaining on Monday why she has had to stand aside as Minister for Health, Aged Care and Sport.
Perhaps Ms Ley intended to display loyalty to her Coalition colleagues, as she also claimed the controversy surrounding her 27 flights in and out of the Gold Coast over recent years had become a "distraction" for the government.
But whatever her intention, these odd remarks only served to betray a misplaced sense of priority. If anything, the team that Ms Ley should be most concerned about is the one her former leader Tony Abbott used to invoke with such zeal – Team Australia.
Politicians love to lecture the public about how carefully taxpayer dollars must be spent, usually when stripping the budget of welfare programs. We've had a fair dose of sanctimony in recent weeks about the importance of prudent management of public finances as the government has sought to justify using an automated system to slug people for debts to Centrelink not actually incurred.
But self-interest appears rife when it comes to the cost of travel. Ms Ley is only the latest politician to leave the distinct impression that the entitlement provided to support politicians in the effective performance of their duties also doubles as a lifestyle perk.
Ms Ley deserves credit for fronting the media on Monday to address the controversy around her repeated travel to the Gold Coast, including one trip during which she bought a $795,000 apartment.
She could have simply issued a statement and hoped the issue would be largely forgotten in the summer haze after Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced the secretary of his department would investigate her travel claims.
But that she faced the media in Albury, the largest centre in her regional NSW seat of Farrer, only underscored the puzzlement about why her attention seems to have been so captured by the tall towers and beachfront delights of southern Queensland.
"I have nothing to hide. I have not broken any of the rules," she insisted. Should this indeed be the case, the investigation should afford her the chance to explain.
Ms Ley's problem is that what explanation has so far been provided under scrutiny in recent days has not been consistent. She first said the travel to the Gold Coast for herself and her partner had been ticked off as within the rules, but now says it was an error of judgment and she will repay the money.
She also concedes the so-called "pub test" of community expectation has been breached by her insistence the property was bought on a whim, while now also conceeding she travelled by the chauffeured Comcar service to the auction.
No adequate justification has yet been provided for her travel to the Gold Coast over two consecutive years during the New Year's Eve period at taxpayer expense to meet a Queensland businesswoman and political donor.
The list of political careers ruined by expenses scandals over the years runs long, yet still the system has not been fixed. As with the issue of political donations, what disclosure is made about travel entitlements is often vague and slow.
It is disturbing that the political game appears to be to win an opponent's scalp, rather than make a genuine attempt to properly address the poorly governed rules around what constitutes proper travel entitlements.
Australia is a physically large nation and it is inevitable there will be considerable costs associated with governing our federation – higher than in many other countries. But the cost of travel for politicians and public servants alike must be reasonable and always to the public, rather than personal, benefit.