The most senior woman in government, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, is under fire for spending more than $30,000 on a single trip aboard a private jet.
A report in today’s Daily Telegraph says says Ms Bishop had the empty, eight-seater jet fly from Canberra to Perth to pick her up from a charity dinner, and then take her back to Canberra.
She was accompanied by her boyfriend, David Panton, on the flight aboard the RAAF Challenger Jet in October.
They were the only two passengers.
In a statement, Ms Bishop’s staff said she “chose to take the VIP jet because the dinner finished too late to catch a commercial flight”.
She needed to be back in Canberra for meetings at 7am.
News Ltd is questioning whether Ms Bishop should have cancelled her dinner plans rather than bill the taxpayer $30,000.
