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Julie Bishop flight ‘cost taxpayers $30k’

Getty

Getty

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has defended having a government jet fly empty to Perth to pick her up after a charity dinner she attended with her partner.

The Foreign Minister was representing the Prime Minister at a private dinner for the WA Telethon, with partner David Panton, when she chose to take the jet.

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Ms Bishop said a commercial plane was unavailable when the pair left the telethon at 11pm on October 18 in the RAAF Challenger Jet, and by flying overnight she was able to be back in Canberra by 6am for meetings.

According to The Daily Telegraph, the jet was believed to have costed $30,000 for the flight.

“It is not a private jet, it is the government ministerial jet and I used it precisely as it is intended, to enable ministers to fulfil their ministerial responsibilities when commercial options are not available,” she told reporters in Canberra on Wednesday.

There was no suggestion Ms Bishop was not on official government business when she took the flight. Neither was there suggestion it was outside of travel entitlements.

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