Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Friday made a desperate attempt to staunch the bleeding from wounds inflicted on his government by his own ministers thieving from the public purse for personal gain.
An independent parliamentary expenses authority will be a compliance, reporting and transparency body, he said, applying the tourniquet.
It will monitor and adjudicate all claims by MPs, senators and ministers, ensuring that taxpayers’ funds are spent appropriately and in compliance with the rules…
The sacrifice intended to appease the howling socialist, sexist pack of rabid dogs is former Health Minister Sussan Ley, whose cavorting between capital cities in a hired plane piloted by her own self, cost us thousands more than if she’d taken commercial flights along the same routes.
(By the way, the above link is to a quote from Bronwyn Bishop, late Speaker of the House, now quite settled into her spot in the Sky News Graveyard for Former Politicians, along with the likes of Ross Cameron and Mark Latham. Bishop, you might recall, was also finally brought undone by her penchant for helicopters as a means of transport, and feels Ms Ley’s pain.)
Fairfax intimated that Ley exploited her ministerial position to up her flying hours, and fulfil CASA requirements for commercial pilots.
When confronted with evidence that he’d attended the footy in 2013 at our expense, Minister for Trade Steve Ciobo brazenly declared that people expect Trade Ministers to show up at such events as part of their job description. Unfortunately for Mr Ciobo, it was later revealed that at the time he wasn’t the Trade Minister at all, merely a lowly back bencher with aspirations. Proving, to my mind, the validity of deep and raucous public suspicions of the justifications trotted out by politicians for entertaining themselves at our expense.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop impulsively cancelled a long-planned appearance at the Portsea Polo when it emerged that last year she attended, with her partner, at a cost of some $3000 to the taxpayer. No doubt she has Ms Ley to blame for ruining her Saturday. The Foreign Minister was to have been dressed for the occasion by couturier Hugo Boss. The story took a totally unexpected turn when it was revealed with much mirth on Twitter that the Boss fashion house was also responsible for outfitting the SS in Nazi Germany.
It’s a terrible indictment of our 45th Parliament that ministers can’t be trusted to properly manage their expenses. These people are elected to take responsibility for our budget, our legislation, our daily lives, and our country’s future. Yet they cannot be trusted with public money. They are thieves. They ought to be referred to the AFP, investigated and if necessary, charged with fraud.
In Gough Whitlam’s day, politicians were forced to fly economy class as their contribution to reducing the deficit. To paraphrase the man, a pissant is still a pissant even if it flies first class. Or its own plane. Dressed in Hugo Boss. To the footy or a wedding or a book launch or, in the case of Kevin Andrews, a prayer meeting in the USA.
If these people want to live the capitalist dream they need to clear off out of politics and get jobs in the private sector. Politicians are not celebrities or high-flying CEOs. We are not their customers, their clients or their share-holders. We are their employers, and they are servants of the public. That’s neither sexist nor socialist. It’s democracy.
No Place For Sheep 
B.B. would feel Ms Ley’s pain for sure!
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Can you please change your theme so it’s not light grey text on lighter grey? I know all the fashionable kids like grey-on-grey, but the lack of contrast makes it hard to read for us old fogies.
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I’ll have to change the whole theme to achieve this Moz. It’s grey on white in my version, not sure why you’d be seeing grey on light grey. Will explore further.
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It’s fine by me; though I may not yet be classed an old fogey. 🙂
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Does enlarging font help?
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Yes, but only if it’s really quite large. I’m never sure whether the “white” is actually white or just “lighter than the other colours” without digging into the css. I also play with the backlight intensity and contrast, but it’s enough of a pain that I normally only read your blog at work where I have more tools in my browser and can fix the stylesheets in this blog by just chopping out all the colour silliness while leaving the layout unchanged. I should really work out what plugin does that and install it at home.
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Just so, Jennifer. The politicians are merely representatives, every one of them elected by only a single electorate of 100,000 or so.
Their expense claims had damn well better be justifiable according to their responsibilities.
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Somebody with standing needs to refer these thieves to AFP.
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Poor Matthias Corman, needing financial help to make his visits to Broome. Did he pay for his own camel rides on Cable Beach? I am so upset by Julie Bishop’s preparations for the polo weekend that I’ve insisted that my wife should stop using Gina Rinehart as her advisor on outfits to wear to champagne events at racecourses.
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Jennifer,
The AFP doesn’t “do” enquiries into Lib / Nat / LNP / Country Lib pollies.
ALP and independent MPs are an entirely different matter.
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I was thinking this morning, if it just rorting you could almost tolerate it, but what brings these antics into stark relief is the parallel cruelty and meanness involving infinitely less well off welfare recipients, who by contrast are guilty till proven innocent, which is virtually impossible in a system rigged against the victim.
How are they so indulgent of themselves yet so obdurate of those who must scrounge off the crumbs on the floor for food and rent?
Hoiti toiti self indulgence and a “let them eat cake” attitude rendered Sussan a sitting duck; public support negligible. Our latter day Leni Riefenstahl has consequently monumentally crashed and there is little sympathy, beyond that which a person would feel for a fall guy.
But, personally, I agree that the brutal and thuggish Abbott, the grasping Julie Bishop, arrogant Steve Yobbo, pathological Peter Dutton and sly, fanatical and cowardly Malcolm Turnbull to name just some are better candidates for sacking- the sad current state of many pensioners demands it.
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an election. that’s what we need
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I actually don’t mind politicians that rort the system as it proves to my mind that they have initiative and the necessary entrepreneurial skill to dream big and kick a few goals for Australia whilst enriching their own pockets! Nation building is thirsty work so who cares if a few bob goes missing as long as they are kicking goals and rebuilding the country Donald Trump style?! It all goes around anyway. Resist the urge to be jealous of other’s success. Learn from them. I did it with my tradesmen when I paid them in brown paper bags to escape the tax man. None of them ever complained. Theft is the natural order for Australians.
The problem is one of management. Greens should stick to their main theme of being frugal managers and stewards of the planet and general useless pricks who should just ride bicycles around to their local communist branch or go ride hot air-balloons into a windmill or brick wall or gallop on the backs of pink unicorns or bugger-up fairies in search of someone to annoy.
Labor are a tad more realistic and should organise a suitable union to roster the rorting on a democratic basis, equally and fairly with a flotilla of social justice warriors, so all can rip off public funds equally and fairly, including a suitable kickback to their head union delegate – providing they can demonstrate some ability to run the country without sending it broke! This is really a quandary or a major hurdle which is richly disputed that they can do just that as their skill in organizing roots in brothels is always questioned by their Liberal overlords so the jury is till out that they can form or perform any useful function as a credible government without stabbings or murdering one another on a regular basis.
Which leaves it to the Liberals to do all the rorting for Australia. Liberals are like silky otters when it comes to performing payment for services rendered. They can navigate rapids and perilous waters on the Gold Coast whilst negotiating the purchase of a block of units or flat for themselves whilst pretending they are off on official affairs of state. Liberals like beavers are the natural builders of Australia’s economy so should be listened to when they have their hand in your back pocket, so in fairness wouldn’t it be best to put your trust in professional rorters rather than amateur rorters? You wouldn’t let a dodgy plumber fix your bathroom would you?
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Frank,
Brilliant! I hope you will forgive me for taking a small liberty:
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Yes, the silky otters of Australian politics line is classic.
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Frank, you have not lost your comedic touch, your funny post made me miss Bob…he might have written about serious issues, but the way he wrote always put a smile on my face…
‘Silky otters’ you say, even Dutton..? More like slippery eels, methinks… 🙂
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Ha! Great post Frank. Made me literally laugh out loud, thank you.
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Frankly, an excellent write.
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What is wrong with you lot…He is SERIOUS with all that !!
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Well spotted Paul. The doggy droppings from Frank are really not supposed to be funny . . . they just are, like Herr Trump. It only becomes serious shit once fools in the electorate vote for them.
A recent doco on Hitler’s rise shows how well a populist can ooze his way into power.
“Make Germany Great Again!” was a rallying cry in the 1930s.
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Yeah, I know, but on second read that was one of his better ones. The stuff about the liberals as the “sleeky otter” lords of rort struck a chord and am still smirking.
When he “rites good”and doesn’t do right wingy stuff he can be good.
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Really???
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He’s out of practice – I think Frank took Bob’s death quite hard.
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I think everyone did. Still sad, meself.
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