Gilmore MP Ann Sudmalis thinks the latest furore over Bronwyn Bishop’s trip to Berry is petty, and there are greater issues people should worry about.
The embattled Federal Speaker reportedly spent more than $6000 of taxpayer money on a luxury corporate aircraft for a 160km journey from Sydney to Nowra, according to NewsCorp.
Ms Sudmalis hosted Mrs Bishop for two seniors forums in November last year, and said she did not know the price tag on travel arrangements but the visit was at the request of her community.
‘‘We’d actually surveyed the community in a number of newsletters if they wanted to attend a seniors forum [with us], and we had so many people respond we actually had two,’’ she said.
On Saturday Independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused Mrs Bishop with fraud and told AAP she should be investigated by the federal police.
‘‘In my opinion, this is fraud and should be dealt with as a possible criminal matter,’’ he said.
Over a week ago Mrs Bishop conceded she made an ‘‘error of judgment’’ when she chartered a $5227 helicopter to make the short trip from Melbourne to Geelong, and also revealed she had asked the Department of Finance to look into two other charter flights taken – one to Nowra and one to Young – for the sake of "completeness".
‘‘I’m sure she’s not the first parliamentarian who’s made the mistake ... and clearly she’s not the last. I think sometimes people get really busy in the job and you don’t look at the pieces paper as closely as you probably should,’’ said Ms Sudmalis.
‘‘There are so many other issues [to be concerned about]. We’ve got a homeless forum next week and i’ve got people coming into my office who can barely put food on the table – these are the issues that should be preoccupying us.’’
Originally published as Bishop under fire for $6000 flight to Berry by Illawarra Mercury.
