By Adam Gartrell
Speaker Bronwyn Bishop has charged taxpayers almost $90,000 for a two-week European trip partly aimed at securing her a plum new job.
Mrs Bishop last year ran for the presidency of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, a democracy group based in Geneva, but she lost out to Bangladesh's candidate. It's believed her short-lived but controversial Parliament House burqa ban cruelled her chances.
In the two weeks leading up to the October 17 vote, Mrs Bishop led a small parliamentary delegation to Italy, Belgium, Austria before heading on to Switzerland - and she spent $88,084 in the process, according to Department of Finance documents.
Mrs Bishop's latest six-monthly entitlements report reveals she and two staff members, spokesman Damien Jones and official Talitha Try, spent $25,400 on accommodation and food, $42,400 on airfares and almost $14,000 on ground transport in just a fortnight. They also pocketed about $6000 in advances and for minor and related expenses.
Bronwyn Bishop is dragged to the Speaker's chair by Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Christopher Pyne after the 2013 election. Credit: Andrew Meares
Even taking into account the fact that she had accompanying staff, her spending dwarfs that of her four fellow delegates.
On the same trip, Liberal MP Nola Marino spent $21,300, while Labor parliamentarians Glenn Sterle and Tony Zappia spent $18,666 and $13,249 respectively. Liberal senator Cory Bernardi, who only travelled to Switzerland, spent $10,178.
Indeed, Mrs Bishop spent vastly more than all four of the other delegates combined – their total expenses tally up to about $63,000. They each spent between $2000 to $3000 on accommodation and food and between $8000 and $15,000 on flights.
Mr Jones said Mrs Bishop was entitled to take two staff members on the trip.
"It's the first and only time she has taken two staff," he told Fairfax Media. "That was due to the size of the trip and the fact she was running for IPU president."
Asked if the spending was reasonable, Mr Jones said: "That's what it costs."
Mrs Bishop's entitlement report shows she also racked up a $43,000 bill on a trip to Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam, Laos and Korea in September last year.
The report also reveals she charged taxpayers more than $5000 to charter a flight from Melbourne to Geelong in November. Her office has repeatedly failed to explain why Mrs Bishop needed to charter a helicopter for a trip that would have taken her about an hour in her much cheaper chauffer-driven commonwealth car.
Mrs Bishop's total expenses for the period from July 1 to December 31, 2014 add up to just under $400,000, making her one of the biggest spenders in Parliament if you leave aside once-off office fit-out costs.
Indeed, the only MPs who spent more were Prime Minister Tony Abbott, and frontbenchers Julie Bishop, Andrew Robb, Scott Morrison, Ian Macfarlane and Barnaby Joyce.
Her expenses come on top of her $341,000 salary.
Mrs Bishop came under heavy fire last year when she decided - along with Senate President Stephen Parry – to confine women wearing facial coverings to glass-enclosed viewing galleries in Parliament.
Earlier last year she also faced criticism for hosting Liberal Party fundraisers in the Speaker's office.