Fairfax continues to apply pressure on Tony Abbott over his expenses:
Prime Minister Tony Abbott says he is entitled to bill taxpayers more than $1000 in travel and accommodation costs to compete in the Port Macquarie Ironman, as he also attended other community events in the marginal electorate during the 2011 visit.
The revelation adds to the expenses controversy, days after Mr Abbott refunded taxpayers for attending the weddings of former Coalition MPs Sophie Mirabella and Peter Slipper.
Mr Abbott, who vowed to lead a government that would “live within its means”, also confirmed claiming travel allowances to cycle in the Pollie Pedal charity fund-raiser, saying it was a ”serious act of community engagement” rather than a ”frolic”.
An examination of parliamentary entitlements shows Mr Abbott, who was opposition leader at the time, claimed $941 for return flights from Sydney to Port Macquarie and $349 for an overnight stay in Port Macquarie in November 2011.
Mr Abbott’s parliamentary expenses report describes the overnight stay as “official business”.
Speaking at the APEC Summit in Bali on Tuesday, Mr Abbott said that he believed all his claims had been within entitlement.
”Let’s not forget that Port Macquarie was a marginal seat effectively and I want to assure you that I don’t go to marginal seats simply for sporting events, although the sporting event in question was a community event,” he said.
What bothers me about this is that it is preventing the Government from addressing the much broader corruption issues that have come to light around the RBA, ASIC, EFIC and Leighton. Basically everyone is now hiding behind Tony’s slugos.
