Lot's Wife Edition 6 2015

8
POLITICS
BY JOSH ZUZEK
(Insert witty BRONNY-related Headline here)
(Insert Hilarious BRONNY-Related Meme/Memes Here)
The unimaginatively named ‘Choppergate’ scandal has only
served to highlight just how stupid politicians think we are.
The now former Speaker Bronwyn Bishop chartered a
helicopter for the 100km trip from Melbourne to Geelong at
taxpayer expense in November 2014 for a Liberal Party event
at the Clifton Springs Golf Club. The trip originally cost
taxpayers $5,227, but the shambolic fallout cost Bishop her
job as Speaker and has left her considering retirement from
politics altogether.
Bishop is renowned for her passion for politics, and is
the longest-serving female politician in the history of the
Australian Parliament. However, her conduct as Speaker
did nothing to restore the reputation and standing of the
Speaker following a tumultuous period for the office after the
scandals surrounding Peter Slipper.
Her refusal to apologise and repay the questionable
expenses - insisting repeatedly that the charter was "within
the rules" – stunk of hubris and arrogance, making the media
portrayal of Bishop as self-entitled, and the Tony Abbott-led
administration as increasingly out of touch all the more
accurate as the days rolled by.
Upon reflecting on Bishop’s reign as Speaker,
commentators have struggled to name a more partisan
speaker in the history of the Parliament. Indeed, she
continued to attend Liberal party-room meetings, unlike
many of the speakers who preceded her.
"I mean to be impartial," she told the Parliament shortly
after taking up the position. "The comments that I have made
about attending party meetings is simply that I am a Liberal
– but we don’t deal with tactics and I wouldn’t be part of that"
in this chair I will act impartially."
As of July, Bishop had booted 400 MPs from parliament
– 393 of them Labor members. The number of ejections is
a record, and could have easily been higher had the former
Madame Speaker been as keen to throw out Coalition MPs as
she was members of the Opposition.
Furthermore, Bishop racked up a greater overseas travel
expenses bill than any of the three previous Speakers in her
first year in the job, tallying nearly $300,000 in expenses.
She also ranked as one of the highest spenders in
Parliament in the period from July 1 to December 31, 2014,
with total expenses adding up to just under $400,000.
During that period, Ms. Bishop spent more than Federal
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, and only $12,000 less than
Barnaby Joyce, whose Agriculture portfolio obviously requires
a lot of travel.
The manner in which Bishop eventually fell on her sword –
"Seemingly determined to
simply say nothing until
the problem went away – a
popular tactic for the Coalition
apparently – both Abbott and
Bishop went to ground and left
commenting on the brewing
storm to other MPs."
despite the best efforts of her and the Prime Minister to avoid
the metaphorical sword altogether - only goes to further
highlight the shortsighted nature of politics in our country
today. Seemingly determined to simply say nothing until
the problem went away – a popular tactic for the Coalition
apparently – both Abbott and Bishop went to ground and left
commenting on the brewing storm to other MPs. It was only
after the controversy threatened to get out of control that
Abbott voiced his displeasure, despite still supporting his
political mentor.
"She has been a strong servant of our country, she has
been a good servant of the Coalition and so she does have my
confidence but like everyone who has done something like
this, inevitably, for a period of time, they are on probation," he
said a week after news of the charter flight first came to light.
Of course, Bronwyn Bishop isn’t the only politician to
get caught cheating the system – a system that has come
in for widespread criticism of late by commentators and
politicians alike.
Already this month has seen Tony Burke – one of Ms.
Bishop’s most vocal Opposition critics – come under fire for
claiming $6,500 to fly his family to Uluru in 2012, as well as
Greens Senator Sarah Hansen-Young who claimed $3,000 for
a party at the 2015 Sydney Mardi Gras.
The difference between Bishop and the ever-growing
number of other transgressing politicians is that while
others realised their mistake, apologized and repaid the
money promptly, Bishop continued to deny any wrongdoing,
digging herself a deeper hole and ultimately forcing the hand
of her strongest backer the Prime Minister.
Politicians think we’re idiots. Maybe we are – after all, we
did elect Tony Abbott.