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I smell a pair of hypocrites

When Peter Slipper was Speaker all hell broke loose over the misappropriation of cab charges totally around $900. Tony Abbott had this to say:

“The Speaker is the guardian of parliamentary standards. The Speakership is one of the most important offices in the Parliament. The Speaker is there to uphold the integrity of the Parliament and now we have very, very serious allegations against the incumbent Speaker, allegations … of potentially criminal misuse of entitlements. These are very serious allegations indeed. Yes, the Speaker is entitled to the presumption of innocence but he does have quite a lot of explaining to do.

It’s also very important that the Prime Minister act to ensure the integrity of the Parliament. … The Prime Minister, to uphold the integrity of the Parliament, needs now to require the Speaker to step down until these matters are resolved.  It’s also incumbent upon the Australian Federal Police to swiftly investigate the potentially criminal allegations that have been made against the Speaker.

I can’t underestimate the seriousness of this. The Speaker is required to maintain parliamentary standards and yet there are now these extremely serious allegations against the Speaker himself. So in order to maintain the respect and the reputation of the Parliament, in order to preserve the integrity of the Government and our institutions, it is very important that the Prime Minister act swiftly to require the Speaker to step aside and it’s very important that the Australian Federal Police quickly investigate these matters so that they can be resolved as soon as is humanly possible”.

I thought – based on his hardcore beliefs that Speakers need to uphold certain standards and that these are to be upheld by the Prime Minister – that he would go into an absolute rage over Bronwyn Bishop’s arguable misappropriation of $5,200 of tax payer’s money to hire a helicopter (of all things) to get from A to B.

“He is sure to join in with the public outrage”, I thought. He set the goal posts during the Slipper saga. But no, he had this to say: it was all “village gossip”.

Hypocrite.

At least Christopher Pyne could be trusted to stand by his word:

“The Opposition is calling for Peter Slipper to stand aside until he has been cleared of all the allegations against him, as the embattled Speaker faces new claims of travel rorts.

Mr Slipper stood aside yesterday from his position as Speaker of the House of Representatives while criminal charges about his possible misuse of taxpayer funded Cabcharges are being investigated.

Mr Pyne has also called on the government to help resolve the matter by going to an election.

“He is sure to join in with the public outrage”, I thought (once again). But no, he had this to say: “Awful on the day we remember the anniversary of the destruction of MH17 that Labor wants to play politics over the Speakership”.

Hypocrite.

Hypocrites the pair of them. Either that, or different rules apply to the Liberal Party.

 

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25 comments

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  1. jagman48

    Pigs will fly with this one Roswell under 94a

  2. Ella Miller

    I remember Animal Farm
    “All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others”
    Hell will freez over befor TA will ask the Speaker to resign. Was the Federal Police asked NOT to investigate this issue???Seing they handed the case over to the Gov. to investigate.

  3. roaminruin

    From the mouth of this entitled, hypocritical, partisan sow:

    ‘The bookings was just made in the ordinary way, there’s been a political beat up and I’m very sorry it has taken the heat off Mr Shorten and his triple whammy Carbon Tax bill,’ she told Sky News.

    It’s taken a $5,000 helicopter jaunt to call this bitch out? She’s been getting away with her blatant partisanship ever since she got the speaker’s chair. With Abbott’s full support.

    Utter, utter humbugs and shameless arseholes.

  4. Ella Miller

    rominruin, please there is no need for disgusting language…I agree with your sentiment about the issue but not your language.

  5. bobrafto

    The whitewash has started.

    The matter has been referred from the AFP to the bureaucrats who undoubtedly under extreme pressure and threats have been diligently falsifying documents.

    We’ll see.

  6. mars08

    “There’s been a political beat-up and I’m very sorry it’s taken the heat off Mr Shorten and his triple-whammy carbon tax bill”

    That is… absolutely… a value judgement. She clearly disapproves of the “heat” being taken off Bill Shrunken. How on earth can this hag be considered an impartial and detached arbitrator?

  7. Clive Manson

    SO, exactly WHAT did you expect? A sacking? A resignation? A stand down?

    Hey, this is the Liberal Party in full swing……

    Don’t set your expectation to high with this hypocritical mob!

  8. Ann

    Teflon coated bunch of hypocrites who make up the rules as they go.

  9. JezzaG

    Royal Commission into the AFP is in order..

  10. Ann

    Smells like a Brandis stench. AFP at it again.

  11. Kyran

    So, wait a minute. Tones used the words “standards”, “integrity”, “respect” and “reputation”? My word. My shock could only be increased if he said “credible”. Thank you, Roswell. If it were Hippocrates, rather than hypocrisy, we could surely just lance this boil. Take care

  12. Debbie Hughes

    ALL of Parliament need to step forward NOT just Labor and call for her to step aside, until a Royal Commission and the AFP lauch a full investigation…… “do unto others” This Government has been Hypocritical since being elected…. We need a DD now not in the future…. They need to all step aside, not one member of the Liberal Party hold the values of STANDARDS, INTEGRITY, RESPECT and they have the REPUTATION of being the biggest HIPOCRITES in Australian Political History…… SHAME SHAME SHAME….

  13. Annie B

    Well said everyone – and a very good article from Roswell.

    And yes, most certainly, different rules apply to the LNP – they always have, they do now, and always will.

    A bad lot.

  14. Owen

    Well who was it that gained at the fund raiser? Was it the Greens or the ALP..no it was purely for the sole benefit of the LNP….So Brony claims she spoke about how parliament works at the fundraiser and that was justification.. What did she actually say please do tell Brony perhaps it was how your donation buys within the Parliament after all it was a fund raiser,,..Really So I am a gardener, if I go to a party in London and tell someone their lawn needs a mow, does that qualify as a business trip ?

  15. Hannibal_l_ (@hannibal_i_)

    Hi Roswell and Kaye,
    I have also forwarded Abbott’s quotes back to him asking him to uphold the integrity of Parliament using the Link you provided.

    Delores Umbridge’s expenses:

    2012: $486769
    2013: $598344
    2014: $846297

  16. Garth

    Thanks Hannibal_I_ …. the sum of those 3 years of expenses equates to about 25 years of the average male wage in Australia. How can this be acceptable ? (and that is just expenses … her wage is on top of that!). I cannot understand how an MP can rack up so much in the way of expenses (??) If this is indicative of other MP expenses then something needs to be done. It just aint right !!!

  17. wmmbb

    There is more to the behavior than hypocrisy. Michael Gordon in the SMH and Canberra Times reviews the model in positive terms of the PM’s behavior:

    If Bronwyn Bishop had acted on a precedent set by Tony Abbott last year, she would not be in such deep trouble now over her totally unnecessary luxury chopper ride to a Liberal Party fundraiser in Geelong.
    Back in August, the Prime Minister was admonished for arriving late for a party room meeting at Parliament House and was disarmingly frank with his colleagues.

    Tony Abbott’s warning on travel expenses was missed by the Speaker, Bronwyn Bishop. Abbott explained that he had flown to Melbourne for a fundraiser the previous night and scheduled a hospital visit the next morning to ensure the trip was covered by his travel entitlements.

    Mr Abbott apparently has no personal standards when it comes to travel “entitlements”. If Brony had visited a hospital or a school the next morning everything would be OK. Both examples are equally morally wrong, and should attract the same penalty.

  18. Rosemary (@RosemaryJ36)

    Thank you Kaye for the submission form.
    I have used it to send the following:
    “Under s 44 of the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act as amended, dual nationals are ineligible to stand for election.
    Given that you claim that you lead an accountable and open government, please will you advise me of the date on which you renounced your status as a British subject.
    If I do not receive a clear response accompanied by proof of your renunciation within a reasonable time – say one month from this day dated 19 July 2015 – I will assume that you are in fact a dual national.
    In that eventuality, or if the date of renunciation occurred after your initial nomination for the House of Representatives, I will endeavour to ensure that your status is challenged and the penalties under s 46 of the Constitution are invoked.”
    under the heading “Your eligibility to stand for election”
    I am not the first person to attempt this but the rumours that he is in fact still a dual national are persistent and it could be the quickest way to get him out if they are substantiated.

  19. corvus boreus

    hannibal_l_,
    Are those cumulative figures?

    Garth,
    Given my own perspective of what I get for what I do (in financial terms), my mind boggles at the numbers ($600,000/yr lifestyle).
    Seems unjustified when her conduct at the position has been so abysmal (ludicrously selective and erratic application of standards).

    Hiring a helicopter to save an hour’s drive to a party junket seems a whimsical reason to pick the public purse of a few grand.

  20. Carol Taylor

    Interesting. The AFP says that it can’t investigate the Bishop matter because it’s in the hands of the Department of Finance. In the Slipper case, Slipper wrote to the Department of Finance four times asking them to investigate the matter. The department declined stating that they were unable to because it was in the hands of the AFP.

  21. mars08

    It cracks me up. It’s ludicrous … how dare Australian politicians condemn the governments of some developing for being corrupt? How dare they accuse those governments of abusing their power?

  22. Keitha Granville

    “Either that, or different rules apply to the Liberal Party.”

    Of course different rules apply – they were all born to be entitled, titled, born to rule, all of the above. How dare we suggest that they should abide by any of the rules that apply to the rest of the parliament, or the ordinary man in the street for that matter. These people are special, they are to be revered for all time, and once they leave parliament they are all to be knighted and damed and worshipped for eternity. We voted them in,we should have known that, they told us all those things. Well, not quite all , but we should have been able to tell which things were the truth and which were just little fibs to get past the ballot box.

    How many will be fooled agin ? Sadly, I think too many.

  23. Annie B

    @ Rosemary ….

    Best of good luck to you in your endeavours to make the p m sit up and take notice of your letter – and maybe, just for once, he might tell the truth about something – one way or the other. …

    I liked your timed ultimatum given to him, too.

  24. mmc1949

    I’ve just copied and pasted Abbott’s words from above and asked both Abbott and my local member (Frydenberg – another career politician) why the same rules as applied to Slipper don’t apply to Bishop.
    In addition, I asked Frydenberg if he would be willing to make his expense claims available to his electorate and if not why not.
    Not holding my breath.

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