This is an unofficial Bulletin Board - owned and run by its users. We welcome all fans of the Mighty Collingwood Football Club.
Ad blocker detected: Our website is made possible by displaying online advertisements to our visitors. Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker on our website.
Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles has run up a VIP flight bill of $3.6 million after previously mocking former Speaker Bronwyn Bishop for taking a single helicopter trip from Melbourne to Geelong.
It’s believed some of the VIP flights are also picking Mr Marles up at Avalon airport, a quick 30-minute drive by chauffeur-driven car from his home or Geelong-based electorate office.
Rather than fly commercial, Dick Marles chooses to fly RAAF charter to Avalon to save time getting home. The same Dick who criticised Bronwyn Bishop on taking a Helicopter to a fundraising event.
Clever Dick or arrogant knob?
Last edited by What'sinaname on Tue Aug 22, 2023 12:56 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Any mention of paying the monet back as Bishop did?
The Guardian wrote:
The former Speaker Bronwyn Bishop has reimbursed the public purse nearly $14,000 for travel claims, including trips to three weddings and a funeral, but has stopped cooperating with a review of her expenses.
The former MP delivered a fiery retort to questions about the expenses, including her infamous chopper ride, insisting she wasn’t being greedy.
She charged the public purse for costs relating to 11 trips, including colleagues’ weddings and the media mogul Kerry Packer’s funeral, according to a Department of Finance investigation.
The report, obtained and published online by the Herald Sun, says Bishop repaid $6,768.25 for the trips. That money is on top of $7,200 she repaid for claiming the November 2014 helicopter trip from Melbourne to Geelong. The helicopter charter cost $5,750 and she was hit with a 25% penalty.
When Albo has run up $5m in VIP flights in the same time frame, zero chance.
It is a little ironic when you look back at how Marles carried on about Bishop at the time, now the government won't even provide details of the flights because it's a "Security issue"
Politicians are all the same, loudly point and shake fist at sky when in opposition but once in power the snout is in the trough faster than a starving pig at feeding time.
Every dead body on Mt Everest was once a highly motivated person, so maybe just calm the **** down.
Not defending Marles because we don't know the actual details of the flights taken - nobody, including the article, is suggesting it was outside the scope of his ministerial role though. This is what makes equating it with the Bishop controversy factually incorrect. Bishop used the VIP helicopter to attend a party fund-raising event - this is outside the scope of her ministerial role which breached travel guidelines and is why she had to pay the funds back.
nomadjack wrote:Not defending Marles because we don't know the actual details of the flights taken - nobody, including the article, is suggesting it was outside the scope of his ministerial role though. This is what makes equating it with the Bishop controversy factually incorrect. Bishop used the VIP helicopter to attend a party fund-raising event - this is outside the scope of her ministerial role which breached travel guidelines and is why she had to pay the funds back.
Taking an RAAF flight to Avalon rather than commercial to Melbourne because it's close to home doesn't exactly pass the "appropriate use of public money" test.
When Albo has run up $5m in VIP flights in the same time frame, zero chance.
It is a little ironic when you look back at how Marles carried on about Bishop at the time, now the government won't even provide details of the flights because it's a "Security issue"
Politicians are all the same, loudly point and shake fist at sky when in opposition but once in power the snout is in the trough faster than a starving pig at feeding time.
So perhaps this is a good reason for us to stop pretending that there is any actual difference between Labor and the Liberals.
nomadjack wrote:Not defending Marles because we don't know the actual details of the flights taken - nobody, including the article, is suggesting it was outside the scope of his ministerial role though. This is what makes equating it with the Bishop controversy factually incorrect. Bishop used the VIP helicopter to attend a party fund-raising event - this is outside the scope of her ministerial role which breached travel guidelines and is why she had to pay the funds back.
Taking an RAAF flight to Avalon rather than commercial to Melbourne because it's close to home doesn't exactly pass the "appropriate use of public money" test.
Agree completely...if that's what actually happened.
"It’s believed some of the VIP flights are also picking Mr Marles up at Avalon airport, a quick 30-minute drive by chauffeur-driven car from his home or Geelong-based electorate office."
Does this sentence not strike you as heavily qualified? "It's believed some"? It also fails to mention where these flights actually end. It could simply mean he got picked up once while flying overseas. If it's a frequent ferry trip to Canberra I'll be as pissed as you are. Given the Murdoch press track record though I'll hold off on judgement.
nomadjack wrote:"It’s believed some of the VIP flights are also picking Mr Marles up at Avalon airport, a quick 30-minute drive by chauffeur-driven car from his home or Geelong-based electorate office."
Does this sentence not strike you as heavily qualified? "It's believed some"? It also fails to mention where these flights actually end. It could simply mean he got picked up once while flying overseas. If it's a frequent ferry trip to Canberra I'll be as pissed as you are. Given the Murdoch press track record though I'll hold off on judgement.
Let's not quibble over who killed who...
Maybe Marles got $10 000 less better treatment than a Liberal homologue...
Really FFS, what is the point in pretending there is any difference between all these corrupt capitalist politicians...
An independent perspective is necessary
When Albo has run up $5m in VIP flights in the same time frame, zero chance.
It is a little ironic when you look back at how Marles carried on about Bishop at the time, now the government won't even provide details of the flights because it's a "Security issue"
Politicians are all the same, loudly point and shake fist at sky when in opposition but once in power the snout is in the trough faster than a starving pig at feeding time.
So perhaps this is a good reason for us to stop pretending that there is any actual difference between Labor and the Liberals.
Didn't most people realise that decades ago?
Every dead body on Mt Everest was once a highly motivated person, so maybe just calm the **** down.
When Albo has run up $5m in VIP flights in the same time frame, zero chance.
It is a little ironic when you look back at how Marles carried on about Bishop at the time, now the government won't even provide details of the flights because it's a "Security issue"
Politicians are all the same, loudly point and shake fist at sky when in opposition but once in power the snout is in the trough faster than a starving pig at feeding time.
So perhaps this is a good reason for us to stop pretending that there is any actual difference between Labor and the Liberals.
Didn't most people realise that decades ago?
Yet your posts do not reflect this realisation in any way. If Labor and Liberal are equally bad, why are you suggesting that the "Voice" is an attempt to make things better??
