Socialism 'on the march' to blame for Sussan Ley standing down over expenses controversy: Bronwyn Bishop posted:

Former speaker Bronwyn Bishop has jumped to the defence of Sussan Ley, accusing socialists of tearing her down and arguing that double standards exist for women and men in politics.

Ms Bishop, who was herself forced to resign after claiming $5227 in taxpayer-funded expenses for a helicopter ride to a Liberal Party fundraiser, said Ms Ley's critics were ideologically motivated and fuelled by the "Twitterati" and 24-hour news.

Ms Ley stood aside as Health Minister on Monday morning pending the outcome of an investigation into her travel claims, following revelations she bought an $800,000 apartment on a taxpayer-funded trip to Gold Coast and has taken 27 flights in and out of the area in recent years, including two for New Year's Eve engagements.

Ms Bishop said that she didn't have specific knowledge of how Ms Ley's travel was arranged "but I do know that there are socialists out there who want to attack free enterprise and anyone who sticks up for it. And I know that socialists, like alcoholics, will blame anyone but themselves. And whereas alcoholics can damage their own families, socialists can destroy the whole country."

The former speaker said the two inquiries into Ms Ley's expenses - by the Department of Finance and Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet - should be allowed to run their course without the cabinet minister "being attacked by people behaving like a pack of dogs".

"But let's understand that there are people out there who wish to destroy free enterprise and those who stick up for it. Whereas socialism, which is always on the march, if you expose it, it can be defeated. And be under no illusions, whenever you see some of these arguments come to the fore, there will always be an ideological component," the former member for Mackellar told Sky News.

"But what's this got to do with socialism?" pressed host Laura Jayes.

"A lot, a lot. Socialists will always blame anyone but themselves."

Ms Bishop also criticised Labor for its response.

Acting opposition leader Penny Wong was quick to criticise Ms Ley's explanation - and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's decision not to sack the minister - at a press conference on Monday.

"I found it pretty, pretty disgusting to see the Labor sending out a woman to attack another woman this morning. I don't think that's a good look either," Ms Bishop said.

"And to be blunt, if you look at the socialist side of the Labor Party, you look at the people in there and the blokes who have...done many more things like that and, quite frankly, nothing happens. So I think there's one rule for some and a different rule for others."

I would blow Dane Cook posted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frh_j3u_7xk

How many minutes can you last?

iajanus posted:

iajanus posted:

iajanus posted:

iajanus posted:

SMILLENNIALSMILLEN posted:

What does "shits lipids" in the context of centrelink mean anyway?

Lid posted:

WE WARNED YE ABOUT SPLITS


So we're three for three in federal leaders telling Left Renewal to gently caress off.

Les Affaires posted:

What's her view of agrarian socialists?

Frogfingers posted:

From the chopper window.

quote:

Ms Bishop, who was herself forced to resign after claiming $5227 in taxpayer-funded expenses for a helicopter ride to a Liberal Party fundraiser, said Ms Ley's critics were ideologically motivated and fuelled by the "Twitterati" and 24-hour news.

I would blow Dane Cook posted:

I vaguely remember reading somewhere that the helicopter story was the end result of a leak from one of Bronwyn's enemies in the Liberal party. Do you think the same thought of thing could be going on with Ley?

I would blow Dane Cook posted:

I vaguely remember reading somewhere that the helicopter story was the end result of a leak from one of Bronwyn's enemies in the Liberal party. Do you think the same thought of thing could be going on with Ley?

ewe2 posted:

It's obvious to me that it is. The guns have been out for her for a while, though. That list of her trips comes from the beginning of last year. This is a right faction stitch-up, it could be any of them and likely to be a combination.

I would blow Dane Cook posted:

A former Health Minister/PM with a grudge?

I would blow Dane Cook posted:

both stories came from the same herald sun journalist.

WhiskeyWhiskers posted:

Why did the right want to get rid of Bronny though? If it's just case she was poo poo I literally can't believe it.

Starshark posted:

Can someone post First Dog to save me looking for it.

norp posted:

loving secret communists, have the temerity to question a capitalists right to steal government money

Frogfingers posted:

Somebody let Bronny off the burn. I've never seen anyone so salty, bitter and sour all at the same time.

This isn't the first time she's sounded off about reds under the bed since her retirement, is it?

I would blow Dane Cook posted:

She betrayed Tony in the leadership vote even after he humiliated himself over choppergate for her.

WhiskeyWhiskers posted:

Oh I thought you meant the choppergate stuff was leaked to the same Hun journo as Ley's.

quote:

Sussan Ley looked at Gold Coast property before buying ‘on a whim’


SIDELINED health minister Sussan Ley used a taxpayer-funded trip to inspect a Gold Coast property nine months before the 2015 purchase of a luxury apartment she said had been unplanned, vendors claim.

The Herald Sun can reveal Ms Ley made an unsuccessful bid on a property in 2014, before later billing the taxpayer thousands of dollars in ­airfares, accommodation and taxi fares for the trip.

Ms Ley stood down on Monday from the ministry pending two investigations of her taxpayer-funded Gold Coast trips, and the latest revelations put her future in further doubt.

Her ministerial colleagues now believe she will struggle to return to the front bench, as the government moves to fast-track reforms of parliamentary entitlements instigated after the scandal over the then-Speaker Bronwyn Bishop’s helicopter flight to Geelong in late 2014.

Ms Ley, who has agreed to partly reimburse taxpayers for four trips to the Gold Coast, maintained on Monday that “no rules were broken”.

But the Albury-based MP’s troubles could worsen after retired couple Adrienne and Stewart McEachran came forward to claim that she and her partner, Graham Johnston, inspected their home in Advancetown, in the Gold Coast hinterland, in late August and on September 8 in 2014.

Government documents reveal that Ms Ley billed taxpayers more than $2000 in travel costs for a long weekend on the Gold Coast from September 5 to 8, 2014.

The costs included $720 for two nights of travel allowance, more than $1000 in flights to and from Coolangatta, and $271 for a hire car.

Ms Ley refused to answer queries on the latest claims.

Ms McEachran said of Ms Ley: “She was friendly and obviously looking to purchase something. She must have been impressed enough that she came back.”

The couple said that in October, Ms Ley made an offer that was about $50,000 below the mid-$700,000 asking price, and they declined.

The couple, both in their late 70s, sold the property for a better price shortly after.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull asked Ms Ley to stand aside without ministerial pay until her travel claims had been probed by the secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. The Department of Finance will also review her work trips to the Gold Coast.

A defiant Ms Ley faced the media on Monday for the first time since the Herald Sun revealed she purchased a lavish ocean-view apartment during a taxpayer-funded work trip.

“I’m very confident that the investigations will demonstrate that no rules were broken whatsoever,” Ms Ley said.

“I recognise that for people who live in my electorate, who work hard, who understand about living on fixed incomes and have experienced a life I’ve experienced in the past, this has a look that I don’t understand those issues. The opposite is the case.”

Ms Ley also defended trips she made to the Gold Coast on consecutive New Year’s Eves, for which taxpayers covered some of the costs, saying she travelled “at the invitation of a prominent Queensland businesswoman” — believed to be Liberal donor Sarina Russo.

Cabinet secretary Arthur Sinodinos will handle Ms Ley’s portfolios. The inquiry should be over by the time parliament resumes on February 7.

Acting Opposition Leader Penny Wong said the PM’s response was “weak”.