[Peetwo]

The Bronny factor - Part II

Thought this article from 'that man' again, might be better represented here - Why?

Well IMO it highlights the potential can of worms underlying the corporate/executive government travel rorts...err arrangements. Which is invariably organised by minions (& signed off on by Mandarins) & could very easily be revealed if required.

Example if the Forsyth review or Executive trough dwellers hose out happens to be further obfuscated & delayed...  

Bronwyn Bishop quits: No mates rates as luxury flies  
 
Air charter operators say the $6000 taxpayer-funded flight Bronwyn Bishop took as Speaker from Sydney to Nowra on the NSW south coast was up to twice or more the going rate for such a 160km trip.  

The flight, in November, was the second that aviation industry sources told The Australian could have been made for far less cost, the first revealed being a $5227 charter of a helicopter to take Mrs Bishop from Melbourne to Geelong for a Liberal fundraiser. The Geelong charter was with Bendigo, Victoria, company My Jet Aviation, which employs as a lobbyist ­Andrew Gibbs, a close friend of Mrs Bishop and her chief of staff, Damien Jones.

Mr Jones did not respond to questions from The Australian yesterday, but at the weekend he was quoted as saying the Nowra flight, which Mrs Bishop took for another fundraiser, “could well have been” also done through My Jet Aviation, and said it did not involve a corporate jet but a propeller-­driven aircraft.

The principal and chief pilot of Edwards Aviation based in Armidale in NSW, Brad Edwards, who derives his main business from flying politicians on charters in his propeller and light jet aircraft, said $6000 was “very expensive” for such a flight, especially in a propeller aircraft. “You could get it done a lot cheaper,” he said.

Mr Edwards said he could have taken Mrs Bishop and, if she chose, two aides on such a trip in his Beechcraft Baron piston twin-­engine aircraft, to Nowra for $2500.

Even in one of his light corporate jets, a Cessna Citation, Mr ­Edwards said, “$3500 should be able to do it”.

He said the main components of such a charter of the Citation would be a charge of 45 minutes flying time for the jet, coming to $2000, two Sydney landing fees of $500, and $500 for the pilot’s wages.

Mr Edwards and another aviation figure told The Australian the Geelong trip could also have been made for far less money, if through no other means than by chartering a less expensive helicopter.

They noted that the Agusta 109 helicopter understood to have been chartered by Ms Bishop was a $US6 million ($8.2m) top-of-the line piece of machinery, having twin engines and space for several passengers in great comfort.

The managing director of Skypac Aviation based at Sydney’s Bankstown airport, Rick Pegus, who also operates light jet and piston-engine charter aircraft, also said $6000 for a trip from Sydney to Nowra would be well above going market rates.

“If you’re paying $6000 for a piston aircraft, it sounds like it’s come up from Melbourne,” Mr Pegus said.

He said he could have done such a charter for between $3000 and $4000 in his piston aircraft.

Marc De Stoop, who operates a charter service with two Dassault Falcon 20 jets, said he could have operated such a charter from Bankstown, where his operation is based, to Nowra for $7000 to $8000. While this places such a charter in the same price range as Mrs Bishop’s trip, the Falcon is a medium-size jet aircraft of airline size, capable of taking nine passengers.

 

Further to the 'Bronny Factor', there was this today from Anthony Klan in the Oz..

Bronwyn Bishop: aviation company clears the air on lobbyist’s role  

• by: ANTHONY KLAN
  
• From: The Australian
  
• August 04, 2015 12:00AM
  

Journalist
Sydney

The aviation company that organised Bronwyn Bishop’s Geelong helicopter flight has moved to distance itself from spokesman and lobbyist Andrew Gibbs.  

In recent weeks, Mr Gibbs has fronted the media on behalf of Bendigo-based MyJet Aviation and stated he worked for the company organising flights for businesspeople and politicians.

Yesterday, MyJet said it had engaged Mr Gibbs to launch its services “within the premium business market for a period of 12 months” but that role “concluded in early February 2015”.

On July 16, The Australian contacted Air Melbourne, the company that conducted Mrs Bishop’s Geelong flight, and was told the flight had been brokered by MyJet Aviation, with Mr Gibbs being provided as the contact person for that company.

The following day, The Australian revealed Mr Gibbs was the founder and sole owner of lobbying firm Primary Policy Partners, whose five clients included MyJet Aviation.

It later emerged he was a close friend of Mrs Bishop’s chief of staff, Damien Jones, and had been best man at Mr Jones’s wedding. Mr Gibbs has strongly rejected suggestions his friendship with Mr Jones led to Mrs Bishop’s chopper flight. On July 17, in reference to MyJet, Mr Gibbs told The Australian: “I have a job to help co-ordinate marketing for my client. MyJet strives to be above reproach on all aspects of our operations.” Last night, he said he “did not represent that I was still working for MyJet” in those discussions. “I was answering questions as to what my involvement was in relation to claims being made by media.”

In its statement, MyJet said it had organised the Geelong chopper flight for Mrs Bishop and an aircraft flight from Sydney to Nowra, which were the only occasions the company had “been the provider to the office of the Speaker”.

    
While we are on AK from the Oz and on a somewhat related topic - remember this?

Rex airline freebies ‘so MPs better informed’  

• by: ANTHONY KLAN
  
• From: The Australian
  
• February 25, 2015 12:00AM
  

Journalist
Sydney


REGIONAL airline Rex yesterday claimed to have given federal ALP and National Party politicians hundreds of free flights — worth more than $130,000 — in a bid to explain why it made $385,000 in disclosed political ­donations in 2012.  

Convening the listed airline’s half-year results yesterday, Rex deputy chairman John Sharp said that the donated flights were for ­“politicians to get out into regional Australia” in order to be “better ­informed”.

“We made these donations ­because we felt the elections were coming in 2013 and we felt it was very important that the federal leaders get out to the bush and ­explain themselves to the bush,” Mr Sharp said.

Separately, Mr Sharp is the ­federal treasurer of the National Party and was a federal transport minister under John Howard before resigning in 1997 after a travel rorts affair, which saw fellow ­ministers David Jull and Peter ­McGauran also forced to resign.

Political donations made by Rex have raised questions after it emerged the relatively small listed company declared $385,700 in political donations in 2012, making it one of the nation’s biggest ­donors that year.

The declared donations inclu­ded gifts of $250,000 to the federal ALP, $95,700 to the federal National Party and $40,000 to the federal Liberal Party.

(The only other political donations the company had ever made was $3486 to the ALP in the year to June 2004.)

Rex reported an after-tax profit of $14.01m for the 2012-13 financial year, and paid no dividends to shareholders. At the time Rex was making those 2012 donations — between July and November — the company was subject to an ­investigation by the ATSB into the 2009 crash of an aircraft operated under its Pel-Air brand off Norfolk Island.

That investigation attracted controversy after it emerged, in August 2012, that the ATSB report had failed to mention 57 breaches or “serious deficiencies” at Pel-Air, which had been identified in a ­separate report by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority.

That revelation sparked a parli­amentary inquiry that reported in December, leading the federal government to call on the ATSB to launch a new probe into the ­accident.

Mr Sharp and Rex chief executive Lim Kim Hai both strenuously denied the donations had been made with the view to seek influence in any way.

“We had no dealings other than proper dealings,” Mr Sharp said.

Mr Sharp said the second draft of the ATSB report into the Norfolk Island crash had been submitted in the first half of 2012, before Rex had made the donations.

When asked why Rex had made the donations, Mr Lim said: “It’s a big country, Australia, and there are a lot of Labor politicians.

“Many didn’t understand the issues that were happening in the industry.”

However, the ultimate recipients of the flights remained unclear, with ALP national secretary George Wright yesterday telling The Australian the flights had been used by party campaigners.

“It’s a contribution to the federal office of the ALP and used for campaigning,” Mr Wright said.

“It is not a contribution to MPs.”

Under parliamentary disclosure rules, MPs must disclose any travel or hospitality received where the value exceeds $300.

Rex has repeatedly declined to comment when asked by The Australian why the donations were made.

Independent senator Nick Xenophon — who was part of a Senate inquiry into the Pel-Air crash — has previously described the Rex donations as “incredibly baffling”.

Mr Sharp said yesterday that the donations had been in-kind to the political parties in the form of free flights.

Mr Li said the ALP had used about $40,000 of the $250,000 in free flights offered, which was “about 100” flights.

Mr Sharp said he believed that the federal National Party had redeemed the full $95,700 worth of flights offered, while the federal Liberal Party had not used any of the $40,000 worth of flights it was offered.

Mr Li said Rex flights typically were about 55 per cent full, which meant the cost to shareholders of the donations was minimal.

Rex shares closed down 10 per cent yesterday at 98c.

Do you know more? klana@theaustralian.com.au

Ahh what a murky mess Bronny's Choppergate scandal may have lifted the lid on.
Take a look at this story on Minister Truss from the Daily Telegraph yesterday... :

Warren Truss private charter will cost taxpayers thousands  

• by: EXCLUSIVE Geoff Chambers and Daniel Meers
  
• From: The Daily Telegraph
  
• August 03, 2015 12:00AM
  

Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss boards a private charter plane at Port Macquarie airport/ Picture: Nathan Edwards Source: News Corp Australia

TAXPAYERS will be slugged thousands of dollars for a private charter flight Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss took after a sod-turning ceremony last week as NSW MPs at the same event boarded a commercial flight.  

The Daily Telegraph can reveal Mr Truss took the private plane from Port Macquarie to Sydney while other politicians flew with Qantas.

Mr Truss, accompanied by an adviser, boarded a Beechcraft Super King Air 200 last Thursday afternoon at the peak of the charter flight scandal that triggered Bronwyn Bishop’s resignation.

The MP had been one of Mrs Bishop’s strongest supporters, describing some critics’ views as “exaggerated”.

“There are some who would take the view that if a member took a bus he was wasting money and should be walking,” he said last week.
[img=0x0]http://pixel.tcog.news.com.au/track/component/article/news/nsw/warren-truss-private-charter-will-cost-taxpayers-thousands/story-fni0cx12-1227467178086?t_product=DailyTelegraph&t_template=s3/chronicle-component/relatedstories/templates/index[/img]
Mr Truss was driven to a special charter plane entrance at Port Macquarie airport by local federal MP David Gillespie. Shortly after he left on the charter plane, Baird government ministers Duncan Gay and Niall Blair were seen boarding a Qantas flight.

BRONWYN BISHOP RESIGNS AS SPEAKER

The Daily Telegraph understands there were no delays on Qantas flights leaving Port Macquarie on Thursday.

Mr Truss had travelled to the state’s mid-north coast — a 385km trip — despite responsibilities as Transport Minister overseeing the MH370 search.

A spokesman for Mr Truss said the Nationals leader “had a series of commitments in the Port Macquarie area”.

“The Hastings River Bridge event was a joint announcement with the NSW government and so its timing needed to be co-ordinated with Mr Gay who also had other engagements on the day,” he said.



Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss boards a private charter plane at Port Macquarie airport / Picture: Nathan Edwards Source: News Corp Australia

“The Deputy PM had an evening commitment at the Boao Forum for Asia in Sydney. This would have been extremely tight for his Boao commitment and the high risk that the Hastings River media conference would go overtime given the high level of interest on that day surrounding both the bridge event and debris found on Reunion Island.

“Accordingly, the DPM’s office booked a charter for the ­return flight.”

The Wide Bay MP has been attacked by Queensland media for using a $21,000 charter flight from Canberra and ­Brisbane to give a post-budget speech at the Conservative Breakfast Club last May.

Sydney-based charter operators can charge up to $3500 per flight hour to hire the propeller planes.

Like the Speaker’s office, Mr Truss is entitled to use charter travel under current parliamentary provisions.

The parts in bold do (I guess) legitimise the Truss charter flight but you have wonder on the wisdom of his minions booking this flight in the shadow of 'Bronny's Choppergate'...

MTF...P2