Federal Politics
  1. Home
  2. Politics
Save
Print
License article

Bronwyn Bishop cut short participation in expenses review after repaying more than $6700, report reveals

Latika Bourke
  • 23 reading now

Bronwyn Bishop has avoided a planned review of her use of entitlements over the last 10 years by cutting short her participation in the investigation, which had already led to the former Speaker repaying taxpayers $6700 for costs related to her attending her colleague's weddings and Kerry Packer's funeral.

A Department of Finance review into travel and related entitlements used by the former Liberal MP, which began in 2015 and which was released under Freedom of Information laws overnight, also found Mrs Bishop provided limited explanations of her reasons for claiming various entitlements, making it impossible for the department to verify whether her claims were a legitimate use of taxpayer dollars or not.

Up Next

Minimum wage: quoting the enemy

null
Video duration
02:14

More Federal Politics Videos

null
Video duration
00:55

Bishop not sorry for expenses
null
Video duration
02:14

Minimum wage: quoting the enemy
null
Video duration
02:06

Margarita and penalty rates
null
Video duration
02:25

Suicide prevention a priority
null
Video duration
02:27

Cashed up
null
Video duration
02:49

Penalty rate backflips
More videos

Bishop not sorry for expenses

Former federal government Speaker Bronwyn Bishop has insisted she did nothing wrong with her travel expenses. Vision: Sky News

"Explanations such as 'stakeholder meetings and participate in events' did not allow any verification that the event(s) occurred, that she attended them, or that they might reasonably be regarded as parliamentary or electorate business," the report states.

But, the review noted, "where the details of events were known, no travel by Mrs Bishop at Commonwealth expense could be assessed as completely inconsistent with the rules".

A furious Mrs Bishop defended herself on Wednesday night as the details of the report hit the media, insisting she did "nothing wrong" and saying her use of taxpayer-funded expenses, like her "helicopter ride" was no worse than the actions of other MPs.

Mrs Bishop was forced to resign her position of Speaker in August 2015, when it was revealed a month earlier that she had chartered a $5000 helicopter to fly her from Melbourne to Geelong - just 80 kilometres away - to attend a Liberal party fundraiser at taxpayers' expense.

Advertisement

The then-Prime Minister Tony Abbott, once an ally of Mrs Bishop's, commissioned a review by the Department of Finance into her expenses on July 30, 2015.

The report produced by that review, which was made public only after an FOI request from the Herald Sun newspaper late on Wednesday evening, revealed Mrs Bishop voluntarily repaid $6768.25 in expenses, which included flights and car rides to attend the weddings of her parliamentary colleagues Sophie Mirabella, Peter Slipper and Teresa Gambaro. The report said "that in voluntarily repaying monies associated with attendance at colleague's weddings, Mrs Bishop was not indicating that she believed the travel had been inconsistent with the rules."

The review said Mrs Bishop repaid taxpayers for a total of 11 trips taken over the course of three years, including flights and COMCAR trips. This included chauffeured rides between "Sydney City and the Opera House" to attend Kerry Packer's funeral.

Mrs Bishop repaid taxpayers for two $171.55 cab rides, a $583.51 flight between Sydney and Albury and two COMCAR trips worth $120 and $140. These travel costs were run up attending the wedding of her friend and former Liberal MP Sophie Mirabella.

As part of the review, Mrs Bishop agreed to repay in full, with an additional 25 per cent, any travel claims found to have been made within the rules but outside of "community expectations." Crucially, the report says "it was for Mrs Bishop to decide whether or not any particular use of entitlements was in keeping with 'community expectations'."

But Mrs Bishop only fully checked over and returned three years worth of expenses (for the financial years 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2013-14) leaving seven years of expenses unchecked.

Mrs Bishop told the department on May 5, 2016, that as she was quitting as MP, she would no longer cooperate with the review.

"As the Department is reliant on information provided by Mrs Bishop to fulfil its role in the exercise, no further assessment is possible in relation to the incomplete seven years," the report said.

"It can however be said that on the information available to the Department, none of Mrs Bishop's travel during those years could be assessed as inconsistent with the applicable rules."

Fourteen days later,a representative for the former Speaker told the department that "Mrs Bishop herself had reviewed all travel undertaken and considered it to meet community standards."

The department told her that without further information they would not be able to sign-off on having performed a credible review.

As a former Speaker, Minister and long-term MP, Mrs Bishop enjoys a lucrative taxpayer funded pension valued at more than a quarter of a million dollars per year.

The new report also reveals that at the outset, Mrs Bishop told the department that:

  • "There was an expectation that she be visible, approachable and available."
  • "If her attendance at an event was in response to a stakeholder invitation, then she was entitled to travel at Commonwealth expense."
  • Her "responses provided to the Department to date were sufficient and she did not propose to provide more."
  • "The level of detail already provided was far more than others are required to provide and she did not intend to open her life to the world."

The report noted that Mrs Bishop's position that she was entitled to travel at taxpayers expense "if her attendance at an event was in response to a stakeholder's invitation" would be "unsustainable" if "taken to its extreme".

Mrs Bishop is now a paid commentator on Sky News. On Wednesday night she angrily defended herself against any imputation of impropriety.

"Gimme a break, we're talking about a helicopter ride and some small expenses I also repaid plus 25 per cent," she said.

"Just gimme a break here, I did nothing wrong. None of any of that had anything to do with my greed or my pleasure."

"There has never been a 10-year review of anybody, I said have a look, it was my volunteer at all times," she said, adding that she had gone through an "enormous amount of trouble" to give material to the review.

Mrs Bishop went on to blame what she said were differing rules for "conservatives" and "socialists" and named several Greens and Labor MPs who she thought were more deserving of opprobrium over their use of entitlements.

97 comments

Comment are now closed