Gifts for Tony Abbott roll in, but the lavish ones are strictly off-limits

http://www.theguardian.com/world/australia-news-blog/2013/dec/11/lavish-gifts-abbott-off-limits

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Never look a gift horse in the mouth, so the saying goes, but for the modern politician a gift should be handled like a black snake. It can always come back to bite.

The higher they climb, the greater number of gifts received. An opposition leader attracts a fair swag, an opposition leader about to win government attracts even more. Prime ministers hit the mother lode.

But the pecuniary interests register is there to keep the bastards honest, as Don Chipp might have said. It lists not only what politicians’ own but the gifts they receive.

Tony Abbott is no different from any prime minister before him in that his list of declared gifts increases markedly from opposition to government. But anything valued at more than $750 has to be surrendered to the department.

In opposition, gifts included wine, business shirts and a pair of RM Williams boots. As Australia’s second most famous cyclist after Cadel Evans, Abbott was given a Cannondale road bike from the Cycling Sports Group (Cannondale Australia). To soften the blow, Abbott notes he would use the bike “proudly” on his pollie pedal charity ride. He also received financial support from the Liberal party “for sundry expenses not covered by the limited entitlements provided in opposition”.

On election night in September, a case of Moet champagne turned up for the new prime minister from Infrastructure Partnerships Australia, a group made up of public and private sector chief executive officers advocating for the “infrastructure industry”. But nary a drop passed Abbott’s lips as it was above the $750 limit so it was sent straight to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.

Since occupying the big office, the gifts have continued, including cycling clothing, a dozen bottles of shiraz, a pendant for his wife Margie, diamond and sapphire cufflinks and an ornate silver box from the president of Sri Lanka and a leather briefcase from the Sultan of Brunei. There was also a book on the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque from the Crown Prince of Abu Dubai. And there was a wooden statue from Indonesian president Susilio Bambang Yudhoyono, which went straight to the department but will be passed on to a university after the Abbott reign.

Though previously disclosed, the prime minister did list pro bono legal advice in a defamation case brought by John Setka. Abbott is represented Michael Wheelahan, Timothy McEvoy and Arnold Bloch Leibler.

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