But Liberal waste is fine
Yesterday, WA-based ministers, backbenchers, spouses and their children flew out of Perth bound for Canberra on one of the Government's 737 Boeing business jets.
The West Australian newspaper has reported that the fuel costs alone for the VIP flight will be more than $30,000. Abc
TONY Abbott remembers vividly that fateful day in 2005 when he, his wife Margie and his three daughters were holidaying in Bali.
They were asleep when three bombs went off, two at a food court on Jimbaran beach and a third at Kuta Town square, claiming the life of four Australians and injuring a further 19.
His sister called him from Australia to ask if he was OK, and told him there had been an attack.
"There are circumstances where Australians must take responsibility for their own conduct overseas.
"If you break the laws of other countries or are accused of doing so, you are subjected to their legal system."
Speaking about consular affairs for the first time since taking over as foreign minister, Ms Bishop has urged people to take out insurance and check Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade advice before they travel overseas.
She has rejected calls for a government travel levy to help cover the costs of helping Australians overseas. News
Tony Abbott has incurred the wrath of Indonesia's journalists by excluding them from a press conference, and even committed a criminal offence, according to the head of the country's journalists' union. Fairfax
TONY Abbott has recruited 20 of the biggest names in business including Visy chief Anthony Pratt and Telstra chair Catherine Livingstone to travel with him on hi high-stakes visit to Jakarta starting today.
Three bank bosses including ANZ’s Mike Smith, the Commonwealth’s Ian Narev and Nicholas Moore from Macquarie and top mining, construction, agriculture and health care company leaders will also be on the trip. News
Two of Prime Minister Tony Abbott's most high-profile ministers claimed thousands of dollars in taxpayer entitlements for attending the wedding of close friend and Sydney shock jock Michael Smith. Fairfax
The Federal Government is calling for expressions of interest from people wanting to be on the council.
Mr Mundine says he is keen to get people with business experience on board, and wants the council to consult widely.
Prior to the federal election, the Coalition announced it would slash $42 million from Indigenous legal support.
ABC
The Abbott government plans a drastic overhaul of the higher education system, including axeing the compulsory fee collected by universities to support student services and scrapping Labor's targets to lift participation by disadvantaged students. SMH
Those with a Catholic background account for nearly half of Mr Abbott's cabinet, roughly double the 25 per cent of Australians who described themselves as Catholics at the last census.Author Roy Williams, who has written about religion in Australian politics, says this marks an extraordinary departure, especially for the Liberal Party, which has traditionally "been a party of mainstream Protestantism". The Age
Forty-one frontbenchers took the oath, the overwhelming majority coming with their own bibles.New parliamentary secretary to the Prime Minister Josh Frydenberg brought the Bible that his mentor Zelman Cowen used when he was sworn in as governor-general in 1977, while Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce (who arrived at Government House in a maxi taxi) came with not one, but two tomes.Arguably, they were upstaged by parliamentary secretary for education, Scott Ryan, who brought along a humungus family heirloom for his swear-in moment. The Age
"It has been reported that an Aboriginal-led taskforce on the 'stolen generation' in Victoria could not identify one truly 'stolen' child." - Mrs Mirabella, reported in The Australian, in February 2008. She did not attend former prime minister Kevin Rudd's apology.Full list news.com.au
