SM,

"The "Pollie pedal" in Brisbane firstly is old news, and was a charity event where people attended in their capacity as politicians."

Really, do tell....MSM is finally getting in on the act...tip of the iceberg.

"Furthermore there are apparently about 60 instances where Labor MPs have had to repay claims in the recent past."

Well, they should be outed too.

I suppose you can provide some background to your 60 instances?

Something along these lines would suffice.

http://www.phonytonyabbott.com/blog/how-the-taxpayer-paid-for-tony-abbott-to-compete-in-surf-races

Parrot,

Using your logic, I take it that you concede that the claims by Abbott fall within the letter of the entitlement law, as you have failed to contest this.

Secondly the 60 instances I heard on the ABC new this morning at 7am, and can't provide a detailed link to all of the labor abuses, but here is a quick appetizer:

"Former frontbencher Simon Crean claimed a flight back to his home base of Melbourne after the December 9 party, and Comcar costs on the day of more than $80.

Former climate change minister Greg Combet and his then-partner Melissa Parke are also said to have incurred Comcar costs on the night of the celebrations, which they attended.

Records show Mr Combet subsequently repaid more than $150 in taxpayer-funded limousine travel.

Kevin Rudd, who also attended Mr Slipper's wedding, is claimed to have racked up $831 in Comcar costs on the night of the Hawke party. Attempts to reach Mr Crean, Mr Combet and Ms Parke were unsuccessful.

A spokesman for Mr Rudd said he was present at both events, but he was not in a position to check whether he had claimed any entitlements.

Ms Gillard has previously come under fire for travelling to the wedding in her VIP plane, claiming she had official business in the region."

Given that the dirt file division of Labor has probably spent weeks trawling through the 10s of 1000s of claims and has only come up with a handful of marginally questionable Coalition claims, I confident that realizing the mud slinging game labor is playing that all the labor MP's questionable claims will shortly be published.

SM,

"Given that the dirt file division of Labor has probably spent weeks trawling through the 10s of 1000s of claims and has only come up with a handful of marginally questionable Coalition claims, I confident that realizing the mud slinging game labor is playing that all the labor MP's questionable claims will shortly be published."

Well, actually, some of this stuff was common knowledge well before the election...but MSM wasn't interested at all.

The question is "why" now after the election are they picking up the stories and running with them?

These aren't "marginally" anything.

They highlight rank hypocrisy.

(Notwithstanding, Labor does appear fairly quiet on the subject - perhaps preoccupied checking past expense claims?)

Of course, you'd never find SM questioning the infallibility of his party....he's a full time spinner.

: )

yep a few Labourites on tax payer expenses watching strippers when Bob Hawke traded for a new model. Charming.

Parrot,

Pot calling the kettle black? I have never heard a peep from you on any negative issues WRT Labor such as with regards Craig Thomson's fraud, or more recently John Robertson's being offered a bribe and keeping quiet about it.

As I mentioned before, the dept of Finance so far has not declared any of these claims to be outside of the scope of entitlements, but as far as labor is concerned, makes a good headline.

For the roughly $1bn spent on parliamentary entitlements over the past decade, Labor is trying to manufacture a scandal from the perceived incorrect claims of a few $1000.

SM (Minister for roolly clever namies)

".....Labor is trying to manufacture a scandal from the perceived incorrect claims of a few $1000."

Ho,ho,ho...it's a lot more than a few thousand.

(of course, you're trumpeting the Coalition line, as in "What do few thousand here and there in rorts have to do with anything?")

Much more to come yet.

Ahem...Tones and Co are either rushing to pay back or attempting to defend their use of taxpayer-funded expenses for personal use and/or party promotion - as somehow being parliamentary duties.