Double Standards

[icyfroth]

[debra9275]

I agree with you She-ele.. Any fund raiser expenses should come from party coffers, not tax payers. I was listening to Andrew Wilke earlier today, he is the only one calling for a proper enquiry.

the funny thing is that the dept. of finance had wrongly put in a claim for a chartered flight in his expenses. He said it was a flight for a plane load of politicians ontheir way to Parliament during a Qantas dispute and shouldn't have been on his expense report anyway.

a journo asked him if he'd been " stitched up"

[olivervcdad]

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@*julia*2010 wrote:

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@the_great_she_elephant wrote:

so, as an 'office holder' is she not entitled

to chartered transport when performing her

duties?   she was also there to attend meetings.

That's the whole point though isn't it? She wasn't also there to attend meetings. The party fundraiser was the only reason for the trip.

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not according to this:

On Wednesday night Ms Bishop’s spokesman, Damien Jones, said the charter service was “in accordance with the guidelines and within entitlement”.

“The Speaker had a number of meetings during her visit to Victoria and always seeks to fit in as many meetings and events into her schedule as is possible,” Mr Jones said.

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Is that the same Damien Jones who is best friends with the helicopter contractor? 

Who (at the time of the quote) was faced with losing his own plum job if it was found to NOT be part of her entltlement? Not to mention questions asked about his own conflict of interest in the matter?

Anyway, it is neither here nor there as it was NOT part of her entitlements as a) there were no meetings as it turns out and b) there is a policy that states clearly that there is no reimbursement for Party functions of this sort.

[raptor_rebooted]

Is that the same Damien Jones who is best friends with the helicopter contractor? 

dunno

[raptor_rebooted]

[raptor_rebooted]

[i-need-a-martini]

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@debra9275 wrote:

I agree with you She-ele.. Any fund raiser expenses should come from party coffers, not tax payers. I was listening to Andrew Wilke earlier today, he is the only one calling for a proper enquiry.

the funny thing is that the dept. of finance had wrongly put in a claim for a chartered flight in his expenses. He said it was a flight for a plane load of politicians ontheir way to Parliament during a Qantas dispute and shouldn't have been on his expense report anyway.

a journo asked him if he'd been " stitched up"

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Mistakes are easy to make. I am forever putting personal stuff on my business credit card and having to reconcile/repay stuff at the end of the month. And that is small scale.

Politicians have credit cards, open accounts, staff who book things for them etc and then add to that low level public servants trying to book things to various departments. Thats why so many of them have to pay 'refunds' when they do their expenses reconcilations - there are so many avenues for errors. Particularly when they are big expenditure MPs like, say, Julie Bishop. I can imagine trying to reconcile her finances would be a full time job with the amount of travel and enetertaining she does.

The questions arise only when they allow funds to go through that are clearly outside of their duties such as weddings or private functions. That is simply out and out theft.

[iapetus_rocks]

Nick Xenophon, Andrew Wilkie and Clive Palmer discuss: Parliamentary entitlements open to abuse? on the 7.30 Report

http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2015/s4288600.htm

Clive Palmer is a hoot. He's just loving all this.

[donnashuggy]

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@icyfroth wrote:

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Love it

[icyfroth]

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@the_great_she_elephant wrote:

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@icyfroth wrote:

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They're a bit "try-hard" aren't they? Not nearly as  funny as some of those helicopter ones.. 

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True...but it's not really funny is it?

[icyfroth]