Senator Bridget McKenzie buys $2MILLION mansion in trendy Melbourne suburb raising questions about her commitment to the bush – as she battles accusations of pork-barrelling
- The deputy Nationals leader bought on a house in Middle Park in the inner city
- It comes just days after calls for her to resign over her role in the sports rort
- Critics call her ‘Senator for Elwood’ as because she lived in the city not the bush
Deputy Nationals Leader Bridget McKenzie has splurged $2million on a house in the exclusive Melbourne suburb of Middle Park.
But the gun-toting senator’s recent beach-side purchase has raised eyebrows about her dedication to rural Australia.
McKenzie’s critics dubbed her the ‘Senator for Elwood’ – an inner Melbourne suburb – because she actually lived in the city rather than the bush, which the Nationals party touts.
According to her parliamentary register, her Elwood home is an investment property that she rents out.
Her office said she lives in Wodonga, a city on the Victorian side of the border with New South Wales, 300 kilometres from Melbourne.
Deputy Nationals Leader Bridget McKenzie splurged $2million on a house in the exclusive Melbourne suburb of Middle Park
But the gun-toting senator’s recent beach-side purchase has raised eyebrows about her dedication to rural Australia
News of the Agricultural Minister’s new property comes just days after calls for her to resign over her role in the sports rort.
Reports suggested she was being ‘pushed to go’ after she was criticised for her handling of $100 million worth of grants before the May federal election.
Michael McCormack, Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg met late last week to discuss the decision.
Mr Morrison referred the embattled cabinet minister’s decision to award a $36,000 grant to a shooting club she was a member of to the head of his department.
The former sports minister is under immense pressure over a $100 million grant scheme the auditor-general found favoured clubs in marginal seats her party was targeting before the election.
She reportedly favoured organisations in areas the Coalition was ‘targeting’ to help them win the federal election.
In fact, the auditor-general found 73 per cent of the projects Senator McKenzie approved were not recommended by Sport Australia, which assessed applicants based on merit.
Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese said the entire situation was ‘a rort’.
‘This is a rort. Bridget McKenzie must resign – and if she won’t, Scott Morrison must sack her,’ he said.
McKenzie’s critics dubbed her the ‘Senator for Elwood’ – an inner Melbourne suburb – because she actually lived in the city rather than the bush, which the Nationals party touts. Pictured with Paul Bloodworth, Racing Victoria General Manager
Senator McKenzie had previously come under fire for using $1,000 of taxpayer money to visit rural Victoria when she was a backbencher in 2015.
She claimed $374 from the public purse on August 13, 2014 for overnight accommodation in Melbourne to attend a parliamentary hearing.
The next day she purchased a one-bedroom unit at Elwood, in Melbourne’s bayside south-east, for $335,000, sparking claims she was really in the city to house hunt.
She didn’t declare her new Melbourne investment apartment on her pecuniary interest register until November 2014, three months after buying the unit.
She also charged taxpayers $19,942 in May 2018 so she could fly direct from Rockhampton, in central Queensland, to Melbourne to see an ice hockey game and meet with the Australian Sports Commission board.
Senator McKenzie had previously come under fire for using $1,000 of taxpayer money to visit rural Victoria when she was a backbencher in 2015