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Barnaby Joyce: radio host's wedding was 'a work day like any other' | Barnaby Joyce: radio host's wedding was 'a work day like any other' |
(34 minutes later) | |
Barnaby Joyce is checking his travel records from 2011 to see if there are any "ambiguities" in his claim of expenses to attend a friend's wedding. | Barnaby Joyce is checking his travel records from 2011 to see if there are any "ambiguities" in his claim of expenses to attend a friend's wedding. |
The minister for agriculture compares his attendance at radio presenter Michael Smith's wedding with going to a football match, saying both are work-related because politics was discussed. | The minister for agriculture compares his attendance at radio presenter Michael Smith's wedding with going to a football match, saying both are work-related because politics was discussed. |
Nevertheless, he is looking over his records to see if there are any expenses he should repay. | Nevertheless, he is looking over his records to see if there are any expenses he should repay. |
On Sunday, the attorney general, George Brandis, paid back almost $1,700 claimed in parliamentary expenses to go to the 2011 wedding of the former 2UE radio host. | |
Senator Brandis said his attendance was "primarily professional" because Smith had been covering scandals involving the then prime minister, Julia Gillard, and the former Labor MP Craig Thomson. | |
Joyce said on Monday that his initial investigations showed he didn't use a flight to travel to the wedding on the New South Wales central coast, use a Comcar to drive from his hotel to the wedding nor charge taxpayers for the cost of his hotel room. | |
"If there was any ambiguity about going from the Andrew Bolt Show to the motel ... I'll refund it but it was a work day like any other day," he told the ABC. | "If there was any ambiguity about going from the Andrew Bolt Show to the motel ... I'll refund it but it was a work day like any other day," he told the ABC. |
He said a range of people "involved with politics and involved in journalism" attended the wedding. | He said a range of people "involved with politics and involved in journalism" attended the wedding. |
He likened it to getting invited to watch a football game or attend formal events. | He likened it to getting invited to watch a football game or attend formal events. |
"They're all private functions at which you spend most of the time talking about politics." | "They're all private functions at which you spend most of the time talking about politics." |
The acting Labor leader, Chris Bowen, said Brandis should not be involved in drawing up the new ministerial code of conduct since he had breached the old code "so flagrantly". | |
Bowen conceded there were some ambiguous functions politicians attended that were a mix of work and pleasure but said a "mate's wedding" clearly was not one. | Bowen conceded there were some ambiguous functions politicians attended that were a mix of work and pleasure but said a "mate's wedding" clearly was not one. |
"To see the first law officer of the nation claim that a friend's wedding in which he reportedly, quote unquote, 'tore up the dance floor', was a work-related expense is pathetic," he said. | "To see the first law officer of the nation claim that a friend's wedding in which he reportedly, quote unquote, 'tore up the dance floor', was a work-related expense is pathetic," he said. |
"He's clearly one of the parliament's now biggest hypocrites." | "He's clearly one of the parliament's now biggest hypocrites." |
Asked if Brandis "tore up the dance floor", Joyce said: "My recollection is not that astute." | |
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