January 8, 2017 3:37pm
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/embattled-health-minister-sussan-ley-apologises-for-apartment-splurge/news-story/2f8e51855174151cd95588a97cbcb060
EMBATTLED Health Minister Sussan Ley has apologised for an “error of judgment” and agreed to pay back money owed to the public for a taxpayer-funded trip she took to the Gold Coast where she bought a lavish apartment.
Ms Ley has also asked the Finance Department to review all her ministerial travel to the Gold Coast which the Herald Sun can reveal, cost taxpayers more than $40,000 in the past three years.
Government documents show the NSW MP took at least 18 trips to the Gold Coast, where she owns property and her partner runs a bin cleaning business, between 2013 and 2016.
The Herald Sun attempted to cross reference these trips with Ms Ley’s ministerial duties — public appearances, media events, speeches and meetings — but could not find evidence of any “official business” on nine occasions.
Those trips alone cost taxpayers more than $20,000.
But a spokesman for Ms Ley said that the Minister travels extensively across Australia and undertakes “extensive meetings with doctors, patients and other organisations that are not media or public events”.
He said just because there is no statement, such as a media release or speech on the public record, it doesn’t mean there is no justification for the travel to the meeting.
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| Health Minister Sussan Ley is under fire for buying a $795,000 Gold Coast unit in this Main Beach tower. Picture: AAP |
In a statement, Ms Ley said she spoke to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull who agreed that claiming costs during a 2015 trip when she purchased a property “does not meet the high standards he expects of Ministers”.
“I apologise for the error of judgment”, she said.
As a shadow minister in March 2013, Ms Ley spent four nights on the Gold Coast at a cost of $3352. The following month Ms Ley again flew to the Gold Coast from Albury with a family member billing taxpayers for taxis, car hire and chauffeur driven cars totalling $3594.
A month later, Ms Ley again returned to the Gold Coast for “official business” on May 30 with a family member claiming $2907 in flights and travel allowance costs.
Other questionable Gold Coast trips include a four night stay in July 2014 when taxpayers paid $4388 in travel costs for her and a family member and a weekend stay in September 2014 totalling more than $2000.
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| Health Minister Sussan Ley responds during Question Time. Picture: Ray Strange. |
The latest revelations come just days after the Herald Sun revealed Ms Ley bought a $795,000 apartment at Main Beach during a taxpayer-funded work trip in 2015.
Ms Ley said she made the impromptu property purchase while at Main Beach for confidential health discussions with stakeholders who she is refusing to name.
Opposition Health spokeswoman Catherine King again called for her resignation saying there was no credible explanation for taxpayer-funded trip to the Gold Coast on weekends and holidays.
“These revelations make it crystal clear that Malcolm Turnbull must sack Sussan Ley,” Ms King said.
“As a Minister and Shadow Minister, Ley has charged taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars for trips to the Gold Coast — where she owns a home and her partner owns a business.”
“Ley has violated every tenet of Malcolm Turnbull’s own ministerial standards. Either she must walk or Mr Turnbull must push her.”
annika.smethurst@news.com.au
@annikasmethurst
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