Bronwyn Bishop has said there was an “error of judgment” but she will not stand down as the Speaker of federal parliament over a travel expenses claim for a $5,000-plus helicopter charter flight to a Liberal party fundraiser at a Geelong golf club, instead describing the allegations as a “political beat-up”.
Bishop gave a press conference in Sydney on Saturday during which she insisted her travel had been within official parliamentary guidelines but the expenditure of such a large amount had been unacceptable. When asked if she would do it again, she replied: “I think not.”
Bishop insisted she had done nothing wrong and the guidelines had been followed when she attended the gathering of her own party’s members to talk about the role of the speaker and workings of parliament.
“If you don’t like the guidelines then move to have them changed. But it would be wrong to exclude people because they’re members of a political party from the opportunity to hear someone speak.”
Bishop said she had earlier travelled from Queensland to Melbourne and the helicopter was booked for a quick transfer to Geelong.
Striking a partisan note that appeared to jar with the officially impartial role of the speaker, Bishop said she regretted that the travel claim had allowed opposition leader Bill Shorten to attack her. “It has kept the attention off the double carbon tax of Labor,” she said.
Bishop described the allegations against her as politically motivated. She insists she made the booking and reported it in the ordinary way.
“When I saw the figure, it looked large and I thought I should pay it and I’m paying it,” she told reporters in Sydney.
“There’s been a political beat-up and I’m very sorry it’s taken the heat off Mr Shorten and his triple-whammy carbon tax bill,” she said.
Labor is demanding the Australian federal police investigate whether Bishop made a false statement when she signed a Department of Finance form stating the charter was claimed for “official business”.
Opposition spokesman Pat Conroy wrote a second letter to the AFP on Saturday after they declined a request to investigate the matter on Friday.
An AFP spokeswoman said the matter would instead be investigated by the Finance Department under the Minchin Protocol, “the agreed protocol for dealing with matters of this nature”.
That’s despite the AFP having investigated former speaker Peter Slipper in 2012 over allegations he misused taxi dockets.
At the time, a Department of Finance spokesman said the Minchin Protocol did not apply where an allegation was referred directly to the AFP.
Conroy says the AFP’s response is “inconsistent”.
“Is anyone seriously suggesting the Department of Finance should be investigating supposed criminal actions?” he told reporters in Newcastle.
“Is (Mrs Bishop) seriously claiming on that form that going to a Liberal fundraiser using $5000 of taxpayers money was part of being Speaker of the House of Representatives?”
Conroy’s letter says the Minchin Protocol is “no impediment” to a police investigation into Bishop’s conduct and is merely an administrative policy.
“This is a simple administrative policy cannot override the statutory obligation to investigate and prosecute crime which is imposed on the Australian Federal Police,” it says.
Conroy demanded Bishop release the form she would have signed certifying the flight was for “official purposes” as speaker. He said her position was becoming “increasingly untenable” and urged Abbott to have a “hard conversation” with Bishop about her position.
The AFP pursued a previous speaker, Peter Slipper, over his use of taxi vouchers to visit wineries outside Canberra in 2010.
In 2014 a magistrate convicted Slipper of dishonestly causing a risk of loss to the commonwealth and ordered him to repay the $954.
But Slipper won a legal battle to overturn the conviction in February 2015. In doing so, the Australian Capital Territory supreme court highlighted considerable uncertainty over the definition of parliamentary business.
Slipper repeatedly argued he was a victim of double standards given other MPs had been allowed to repay expenses .
