Could it be the last hurrah for the bush lawyer!......In recent months, speculation has
grown that Senator Brandis was considering retiring from federal politics.
George Brandis bills public for family bush trip
18 January 2017
The federal Attorney-General, George Brandis, took his son on a taxpayer-funded trip to remote western Queensland last year where the pair explored their family connections to the region.
In a trip that has raised eyebrows in Liberal National Party ranks, Senator Brandis chartered his own plane for the weekend visit to Quilpie and Charleville in September.
The cost of a three-day charter is estimated at more than $12,000 for the trip — which also included a staff member — with Senator Brandis covering the accommodation costs of his son.
Several LNP insiders privately questioned the trip amid the fallout from the taxpayer-funded spending that forced health minister Sussan Ley to resign.
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Senator Brandis and his son Simon visited a property once owned by his former wife’s family in the late 1800s, and paid their respects at the grave of his great-great-uncle.
Quilpie Mayor Stuart Mackenzie yesterday told The Australian he was aware the Queensland senator had wanted to visit because of the family history in the region.
“I understood that one of the reasons he wanted to come out was because of his family connections to the area,’’ he said. “It’s why he came to Quilpie rather than somewhere else in the west.’’
Mr Mackenzie said once he was informed that Senator Brandis was planning to visit the region, he set up a meeting with opal miners and organised for the Attorney-General to open the Quilpie and District Show and Rodeo.
“Once we were told he was coming, he was invited to open the local show that weekend and we organised meetings,’’ he said.
Senator Brandis yesterday dismissed any suggestion he had used taxpayer funds to travel to Quilpie so he and his son could explore their heritage.
“It’s rubbish,’’ he said. “The purpose was to visit Quilpie and open the show and have meetings with constituents arranged by the local federal and state MPs.’’
Senator Brandis, who is among the lowest users of charter flights by Queensland’s senators, said he did not know the final cost of the trip. The details will be released later this year.
Senator Brandis had been forced to cancel a planned trip the previous year to Quilpie because of a national security committee meeting.
He said he had been asked to open the Quilpie show the previous year when he had been invited to the region by the now-retired local federal member.
Last week, it was revealed that Senator Brandis was among three government ministers — along with Immigration Minister Peter Dutton and Communications Minister Mitch Fifield — who billed the taxpayer to attend a 2015 New Year’s Eve event thrown by the Prime Minister.
Other ministers who attended the event did not charge taxpayers. The senator previously repaid $1700 he claimed to attend the 2011 wedding of then Sydney broadcaster Michael Smith.
Senator Brandis said Mr Mackenzie had driven him and his son to the property, which had been settled by his former wife’s family in 1882.
“The mayor drove us out to the property and we spoke to the owners,’’ he said. “It was a total of about an hour in a trip in which I opened the show and met constituents over issues from native title to the rights of opal prospectors.
“I then went on to Charleville and attended the ‘Save the Bilby’ ball before coming back to Brisbane. “My son accompanied me as my guest and I paid for his accommodation.”
In recent months, speculation has grown that Senator Brandis was considering retiring from federal politics. The Prime Minister yesterday said he would not be releasing the findings of his department’s investigation into Ms Ley’s travel claims.
Mr Turnbull received the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet’s report on Friday, shortly before he accepted the former health minister’s resignation.
Ms Ley stood aside five days earlier pending an investigation into her travel, which included the purchase of a $795,000 apartment and New Year’s Eve celebrations with one of Australia’s wealthiest women during taxpayer-funded trips to the Gold Coast.
Mr Turnbull yesterday said he would be making an announcement “very shortly”. The departmental report into Ms Ley’s claims will not be released.
“The advice that I’ve received from the secretary of my department is advice to me and the governance committee of cabinet, so the practice has not been to release advice of that kind,” Mr Turnbull said.