[Peetwo]

It just stinks more and more by the day doesn't it? Waste of taxpayer money, mates rates, nepotism, ego, snouts in the trough and lobbyists. And you wonder why us Aussies (the pissants in society) have had a f#cking gutful of these parasites?

And as for this bullshit excuse they roll out every time that it is 'within the guidelines' well that may be the case, but the 'guidelines' are bullshit and go against the grain of what is 'morally correct'. The 1% (Politiicans) are allowed to piss our money away, while at the same time the rest of us are going broke as we no longer have any money in our pockets.

Bring on a French Revolution please. I know where some guillotines are!

Totally with you on that sentiment Gobbles, maybe we'll look back on Bronny's 'Choppergate'
and say that the old battle axe did us all a favour...

That 'man again' combining with a Clark Kent lookalike highlights that Bronny's indiscretions a very much the tip of the iceberg and this time it is Shortened crew that are in the spot light...FFS!

Expenses row: Rock trip hits Labor attack dog Tony Burke  

• by: EAN HIGGINS, Jared Owens
  
• August 04, 2015 10:32AM
  

Ean Higgins

Reporter
Sydney

Jared Owens

Reporter
Canberra




Labor frontbencher Tony Burke has come under further pressure over a family holiday to Uluru. Source: AAP

Independent MP Andrew Wilkie has demanded a comprehensive audit of every MPs’ entitlement use over the past five years, claiming “no reasonable member of the community” would back Tony Burke’s claims for family travel to Uluru.  

Mr Wilkie today said he had written to Finance Department secretary Jane Halton to seek an audit of every MPs’ claims since the election of the Gillard government in 2010.

“There seems to be a widespread practice of parliamentarians travelling at the public expense, often with family members, even though any reasonable person would identify their journey as being principally for personal reasons. At best this is deeply unethical, at worst fraudulent,” the Tasmanian MP said.

“The accusations in The Australian newspaper today about Tony Burke taking his family to Uluru is a case in point because no reasonable member of the community would feel that the cost of such a journey should be borne by taxpayers.
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• MoreBurke outclasses Bishop on costs
  

“Former Speaker Bronwyn Bishop’s misuse of entitlements formed a pattern of behaviour prompting me to call on the Federal Police to investigate. If the Finance Department audit is to identify similar patterns of misbehaviour, or egregious individual episodes of misconduct, then I would expect those matters to also be referred to the Federal Police.”

However Bill Shorten today dismissed concerns about Mr Burke’s use of travel entitlements for his family’s holiday to Uluru as “dirt throwing” by the government.

The Opposition Leader this morning said Mr Burke had “clarified this matter”.

“To those Liberals of Mr Abbott, the more that you want to just ruin the reputation of politics instead of dealing with the real issues here, which is that the Prime Minister’s captain’s pick as speaker has turned out to be a resounding disaster. You still don’t get it do you?” Mr Shorten said in Melbourne.

More details of the 2012 Uluru trip show Mr Burke, a key opposition attack dog in the Bronwyn Bishop affair, charged the taxpayer for his family to travel business class at a cost several times that available through regular economy travel packages.

Questions have also been raised over a week-long overseas trip to Europe by Mr Burke, during his time as environment minister, where his expenses averaged $10,000 a day.

Mr Burke made the Uluru trip between April 19 and April 22 that year, during school holidays, in what he says was a trip on government business when he was environment minister and in which he brought members of his family.

Mr Burke has consistently ­attacked Ms Bishop’s taxpayer-funded trips, describing her now fateful trip from Melbourne to Geelong in a helicopter as a ­“disaster”.

Mr Burke’s filing for expenditure on entitlements paid by the Department of Finance between January 1 and June 30, 2012, shows he listed three “Family Traveller” domestic scheduled airfares, each of $2164.12.

The Australian was yesterday able to find return flights available from Sydney to Uluru on Jetstar and Virgin Australia, including a baggage allowance, a few dollars either side of $475.

Mr Burke claimed three nights’ travel allowance at $1497.

Sydney radio station 2GB talk show host Ray Hadley, who raised the Uluru trip and unveiled many new details, told listeners a three-night family package on offer could be had at the Ayers Rock ­Resort for $774.

Mr Burke charged car hire at $463.74, and the total cost of the trip to taxpayers was $12,780.74.

Mr Burke’s list of press releases in April 2012 makes no mention of any official matters related to the Uluru trip.

A spokesman for Mr Burke said he had meetings in his capacity as environment minister with members of the Mutitjulu community,

He also met managers and rangers of the Uluru-Kata Tjuta ­National Park, both at park headquarters and around the national park.

“Mr Burke worked with staff ­including the park manager, visitor and tourism services manager, the cultural centre co-ordinator, media officers and senior rangers,” Mr Burke’s spokesman said.

“The cost of flights and the amount payable for accommodation while on official business are determined by the Department of Finance and the Independent ­Remuneration Tribunal, and flights are organised by the travel agent holding the government contract,” he said.

Politicians are entitled to a certain number of family visits while on official government business, the rationale being this provides some family time in busy work schedules.
During the same reporting ­period in 2012, the Finance Department papers show, Mr Burke charged $70,619.59 for a one-week trip in March that year to Switzerland, Britain and France “to attend the OECD environment policy committee ministerial meeting, the Planet Under Pressure Conference and to conduct a series of high-level meetings”.

  
Judging by the general sentiment, in the over 550 comments so far, this subject is not going to drop off the media radar anytime soon, example Bruce from NT...

"...They all have such an obscene sense of entitlement. They get paid well but still resent putting their hands in their wallet to pay for what can often be seen as mere junkies. To expect the taxpayer to pay when they attend a colleague's wedding is outrageous. Not many people would expect their employer to pay travel and accommodation to attend a work colleague's wedding. But the taxpayer is fair-game it seems..."

MTF...P2