Bishop kicks back at critics

Foreign minister under fire for attending grand final

FOREIGN Minister Julie Bishop has rejected criticism of her use of taxpayer-funded travel to attend the AFL grand final and other major sporting events.

Her reaction came just days after former prime minister Tony Abbott slammed the NRL for having rapper Macklemore perform his same-sex anthem Same Love

Mr Abbott tweeted: “Footy fans shouldn’t be subjected to a politicised grand final. Sport is sport!”

Fairfax reported that Ms Bishop attended the grand final in Melbourne on Saturday — along with many other politicians — after the AFL chairman joked she had arranged to hold a cabinet meeting at the event.

The report stated it was her fourth consecutive grand final appearance.

But the foreign minister rejected the implication her travel was somehow improper.

“That article is wrong in a lot of respects and it makes a lot of assertions but no facts,” she told ABC TV. “All of my travel is within parliamentary entitlements.”

She said she worked closely with the AFL as part of Australia’s aid program in the Pacific Islands and had attended the “significant international event” of the grand final at the invitation of the league in her official capacity.

“I support political leaders — the prime minister, (Labor leader) Bill Shorten and others — attending the AFL grand final to show our support for this game and for the organisation,” she said.

Her comments come after News Corp Australia reported that she spent tens of thousands of dollars over five years visiting cities around Australia on the same day her beloved West Coast Eagles played there.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said he believed a very large number of Australians had immediately returned their marriage equality survey forms.

“I expect it will be a credible participation rate,” Senator Cormann, who has responsibility for the organisation of the survey, told Sky News yesterday.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics will provide an update on the size of voting returns every Tuesday during October, before the final result on November 15.

Senator Cormann said if there were a yes vote, the government would facilitate a bill in the final parliamentary sitting before the end of the year to change the law to allow same-sex couples to marry.