Bronwyn Bishop spent $88,000 of taxpayer funds on trip to Europe

Extract from The Guardian

Speaker’s financial disclosures also reveal she spent $5,227 of public money on a return charter flight between Melbourne and Geelong

Bronwyn Bishop: other MPs in the parliamentary delegation to Europe took far less out of the public purse than the Speaker. Photograph: Mike Bowers for the Guardian

Shalailah Medhora

Wednesday 15 July 2015 15.08 AEST 

The Speaker of the House, Bronwyn Bishop, racked up more than $88,000 on a taxpayer-funded trip to Europe during a failed bid to become the president of the Inter-parliamentary Union (IPU), expenses documents have revealed.
Bishop also spent $5,277 chartering a helicopter for a return flight from Melbourne to Geelong to attend a Liberal party fundraiser in November.
Photos tweeted at the time show Bishop arriving at an event at Clifton Springs golf club via helicopter, shortly after the Victorian election was called.

— Neil Remeeus (@NeilRemeeus) November 6, 2014

The Hon. Bronwyn Bishop MP, ade a spectacular arrival at Clifton Springs Golf Club on Wednesday November 5th. pic.twitter.com/t5Nqv53HKx

Labor has written to the Speaker seeking an explanation for her decision to fly for the 150km round trip.

“This seems a curious decision which is not only prohibitively expensive, but also inefficient; the speaker likely clocked up more travel time by combining the 45-minute flight with road transfers to and from airports, than she would have driving for around an hour from Melbourne to the event in Geelong instead,” Labor’s spokesman on waste, Pat Conroy said. “I look forward to the Speaker’s response so these questions can be resolved.”
A spokesman for Bishop said: “All charter used by the Speaker is done in accordance with the guidelines and within entitlement”.
A further statement published on the Herald Sun website said: “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.

“It [is] because of her concern for the country, she works as hard as she can and wishes she could do even more.”
Bishop’s trip to Italy, Austria, Belgium and Switzerland was part of a two-week long parliamentary delegation to the IPU, ahead of the leadership ballot in Geneva in October last year.
Expenses forms show that in that time she and the two staff members she travelled with spent $24,400 on meals and accommodation, nearly $42,500 on airfares and almost $14,000 on ground transport.
A further $6,300 was spent on travel advances and other related travel expenses, taking the total to $88,084.29.
A spokesman for the Speaker defended Bishop’s decision to take two staff members to Europe, saying a presiding officer – such as the Speaker – is entitled to travel with two staff if she or he is not accompanied by a spouse.
He added that it was the first time that Bishop had travelled with more than one staff member.

The spokesman denied Bishop was seeking out a new job, saying the position of president of the IPU must be filled by a serving MP.
Bishop threw her hat in the ring for the presidency in July 2014, but lost out to Bangladeshi candidate Saber Hossain Chowdhury, who was elected for a three-year term on October 16.
It is understood that Bishop’s hardline position that women who wear a facial covering such as a burqa or niqab should be separated from other visitors to Parliament House contributed to her loss. The ban was later overturned.
Other MPs in the parliamentary delegation to Europe took far less out of the public purse than Bishop for the trip.
Western Australian Liberal MP Nola Marino racked up just over $21,000, while her WA Labor Senate counterpart Glenn Sterle spent nearly $19,000. South Australian Labor MP Tony Zappia spent more than $13,000 on the trip, while Liberal Senator Cory Bernardi – who caught up with the others in Switzerland – spent over $10,000.