Federal ICAC now

Abbott flies RAAF jet to donor’s birthday bash at golf club

Case for Federal ICAC
Dubious Travel Claims | Liberal Party | QED
Liberal Party

Abbott flies RAAF jet to donor’s birthday bash at golf club

March 2015

As prime minister Tony Abbott flew to Melbourne in a RAAF jet to attend the birthday party of mining millionaire and Liberal Party donor Paul Marks at Huntingdale Golf Club. 

Abbott flew from Sydney with a group of people after the NSW Liberal Party election launch.

His office defended the use of the VIP jet, which cost about $4000 an hour to run, saying Abbott had work-related engagements in Melbourne on Sunday.

“All travel was undertaken with the rules,” Abbott’s spokesman said, but he did not answer questions from journalists on what the work engagements were.

As the parliamentary expenses authority explains: “MPs must be prepared to publicly justify their use of expenses.”

Read more.

Tony Abbott fails to declare daughter’s scholarship connected to donor

What's a rort?

Conflicts of Interest

Redirecting funding to pet hobbies; offering jobs to the boys without a proper tender process; secretly bankrolling candidates in elections; taking up private sector jobs in apparent breach of parliament’s code of ethics, the list goes on.

Deceptive Conduct

Claiming that greenhouse gas emissions have gone down when the facts clearly show otherwise; breaking the law on responding to FoI requests; reneging on promised legislation; claiming credit for legislation that doesn’t exist; accepting donations that breach rules. You get the drift of what behaviour this category captures.

Election Rorts

In the months before the last election, the Government spent hundreds of millions of dollars of Australian taxpayers’ money on grants for sports, community safety, rural development programs and more. Many of these grants were disproportionally awarded to marginal seats, with limited oversight and even less accountability.

Dubious Travel Claims

Ministerial business that just happens to coincide with a grand final or a concert; electorate business that must be conducted in prime tourist locations, or at the same time as party fundraisers. All above board, maybe, but does it really pass the pub test? Or does it just reinforce the fact that politicians take the public for mugs?

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This