Bronwyn Bishop’s chopper flight row lands at AFP door

charged taxpayers $5227 to take a helicopter booked through MyJet Aviation from Melbourne to a golf club in Geelong instead of a one-hour drive to the venue.

Despite losing the support of key government figures, it is understood Mrs Bishop continues to have the complete backing of Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who believes her decision to pay back the funds, along with a 25 per cent penalty, should end the matter.

The issue intensified yesterday after Mrs Bishop missed the MH17 memorial in Canberra, with her office claiming she had been snowed in while staying on a farm in the southern Highlands.

It also emerged: • Andrew Gibbs, who handles MyJet Aviation’s political bookings, is a former liberal staffer and an associate of Mrs Bishop;

• The company has close Liberal Party links and had their Bendigo base opened by former Victorian Liberal premier Denis Napthine; and •

Mrs Bishop refused to release legally binding documentation which would indicate whether she signed off on the trip as official business.

A spokesman for Mrs Bishop last night said she would not make any further comment while the AFP were considering the matter.

Multiple government figures believe Mrs Bishop, regarded by many in Canberra as an overly biased speaker, is distracting from the work of the government.

Manager of Opposition Business Tony Burke yesterday said Mrs Bishop had no choice but to resign if she could not provide an explanation. He confirmed Labor had asked the AFP to consider investigating the matter: “I don’t see how someone accidentally gets on a helicopter and ends up at a Liberal Party fundraiser.

“I don’t see how anyone argues that a political party fundraiser is part of the official job of being the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

“And I certainly don’t understand how anybody ... would say the best way to get from Melbourne to Geelong was in a luxury helicopter.”