Helicopter ride forces resignation

A helicopter ride using taxpayers’ money caused the Speaker of the Australian Parliament to resign early this week. After over three weeks of intense criticism of her action, Bronwyn Bishop submitted her resignation to the Governor-General.

The criticism was for the chartering of a helicopter at a cost of over A$ 5,000 for a 80-km (50 miles) flight using the taxpayers’ money last November to attend the ruling Liberal Party (to which she belongs) fundraiser. Media exposures led to the protest campaign.

Her announcement came after she paid back the money – plus a 25% penalty – and publicly apologising for the “ridiculous” expense claim. 

“It is because of my love and respect for the institution of Parliament and the Australian people that I have resigned as Speaker,” the 72-year-old Bishop announced in a statement after submitting the letter to the Governor-General. She held the post of Speaker of the Federal Parliament from 2013.

Her decision to resign came in the wake of the threat of a no-confidence motion by the Opposition.

Her resignation prompted Prime Minister Tony Abbot to announce that a review would be launched into politicians’ entitlements as “the public deserve to be absolutely confident that taxpayer money is not being abused”. He hailed the Speaker’s resignation as “the right thing by the Parliament, by the Government and by the people of Australia.”

She is the second Speaker to step down in recent years. In October 2012, Peter Slipper, the previous Speaker who defected from the Labour Party to become an independent MP, resigned over cab-charge vouchers, although this year he won his appeals against three dishonesty convictions.

Earlier, Leo McLeay who held the post from 1989-93 quit following accusations that he had falsely claimed compensation after an accident involving a folding bike he had hired from Parliament House’s health and recreation centre despite being warned that it might be a bit small for him. 

In its editorial prior to the Speaker Bishop’s resignation, the ‘Sunday Telegraph’ said: “The helicopters were just the beginning. Now she’s been taking up to five limousines in one day and rejecting the official ComCar fleet because that’s just the way Bronwyn rolls. 

“Bishop keeps insisting all her travels are within the official guidelines. That includes $90,000 of a trip for herself and two staff to Europe, where she lobbied for a silly international gravy-train job. That’s more than millions of Australian families could dream of earning during in a year. Now, as she is finally forced to apologise for her actions, she has the temerity to suggest a wide-ranging review of politicians’ entitlements.

“Too late Bronwyn. It’s too late to redeem the Speaker. And the problem is she has absolutely no political capital to burn. Her highhanded demeanour in Parliament, the overt partisanship with which she runs the chamber’s business, her record of underperformance in previous ministerial portfolios an her record of embarrassing herself with unnecessary controversies (like proposing a Muslim headscarf ban in 2005 and then trying as Speaker, to ban women wearing burqas from watching Parliament), all mean nobody is prepared to defend her.