THE furore over Speaker Bronwyn Bishop’s questionable use of travel entitlements has naturally shone a light on all MPs’ claims in recent years.
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Ms Bishop is under fire for, first, billing the taxpayers for a helicopter flight from Melbourne to Geelong for a Liberal Party fundraiser and, now, claiming travel expenses to attend the wedding of Liberal colleague Sophie Mirabella.
And so she should be feeling the heat.
Misuse of travel entitlements not only costs money, but also further serves to undermine the reputation of all politicians.
Locally, it is also appropriate that the Labor Party answer questions about the amount of money ALP MPs have claimed in recent years to attend the annual Light on the Hill dinner in Bathurst. The dinner is, at one level, an ongoing tribute to former prime minister Ben Chifley but, in reality, is just another party fundraiser.
Just as Ms Bishop was criticised for hailing a helicopter to a Liberal Party fundraiser, so too should Labor MPs have to justify claiming expenses to be in Bathurst for a Labor Party fundraiser.
Granted, none has taken the abuse of entitlements to the same level of Ms Bishop’s appalling use of a helicopter, but the principle is the same.
The ALP has already told us that the Light on the Hill dinner qualifies as “official party
business” and so the claims are legitimate, but should they be?
Why should taxpayers foot the bill for MPs to attend party fundraisers of either political persuasion?
If a junior sporting club invited a guest speaker to a fundraiser, they would not be able to dip into the public purse to pay the bill.
Rather, that money would come off the fundraiser’s bottom line or be donated by a generous benefactor.
Political parties should play by the same rules.
The Labor MPs who have claimed entitlements to speak at Light on the Hill may have technically done nothing wrong, but that doesn’t make it right.
The system is broken and needs to be fixed.