We ordinary people are expected to be honest in our dealings with government.
I am angry with Bronwyn Bishop. She has come to represent everything we are cynical about in politicians and government leadership.
Throughout her political career she has presented herself as a person of high principle and in her role as Speaker she represents us in maintaining principles in the Parliament. Yet the past week has revealed that she has little regard for we, the people of Australia she purports to represent.
While we have 8.2 per cent unemployment in South Australia, young families unable to rent a home or buy one in Sydney or Melbourne and homelessness increasing dramatically with older women, she spends $5,227 on a helicopter charter instead of a 60 minute longer taxi ride and $88,000 on a two week trip to Europe.
In the job that she is actually paid $340,000 a year to do as Speaker she further deserves cynicism. In our April 10 issue we detailed that she had a track record of penalising Labor 63 times more frequently than the government when her role demands that she be impartial.
Different rules
We ordinary people are expected to be honest in our dealings with government. In a letter to the editor of the Sydney morning Herald (21 July) Joe Weller could not have expressed it better:
“As a solicitor, I have acted for people who were on the dole, did not declare a job and were jailed for it. It underscores how very seriously the law regards taking taxpayers money with no lawful excuse”.
Exactly.
One of the commendable points to be made of Tony Abbott is that he is a man of the people. He has not built wealth outside of his public office and has not immersed himself in the trappings of office. However his ongoing support of Bronwyn Bishop, by association, extends the public cynicism to him.
John Howard would have moved quickly and sacked her. There were no probations. Abbott should do the same. Or offer to make her a Dame if she moves on. Then he can get back to leading the country.
* The image above is a still from the video on Fairfax media’s Sydney Morning Herald website. You can watch the full video accompanying the article by Adam Gartrell by clicking on this link.
