UPDATE: Monday 5.15pm: MyJet has released a statement to the media, which reads:
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MyJet respects the privacy of all of our clientele and will never disclose who is, or who has been a client, nor identify dates and destinations of our clients. Our aircraft have previously been used by senior politicians of all political parties on occasions, for similar short distance trips, without any concerns raised by the media. This cannot be said of the intense focus we have received for providing a service to the Speaker of the House.
MyJet is not politically aligned to a party. Since our inception, we have flown a range of government departmental groups, elected officials from a number of political parties, as well as clientele from the business and sporting communities. The suggestions that we have a deal or preferred relationship with the Liberal Party or the Speaker of the House of Representatives is false. While it is not our practise to disclose individual bookings, in this extraordinary circumstance of how much misinformation and by means of ending this matter, we can confirm a booking for Geelong and a booking for Nowra are the only two occasions we have been the provider to the Office of the Speaker.
MyJet has never received any grants or funding from local, state or federal government. We consider this claim to be most disingenuous and demand any media outlet that has made this claim, provide a full retraction.
MyJet has tendered (through the normal quoting procedures with the Parliamentary Travel Service or by direct request of a Members or Senators staff) for the extremely competitive Federal government charter business. This has seen us provided a total of 26 quotes in the last 24 months. We have been successful in winning a total of four of these jobs. This clearly demonstrates not only was our success rate below the industry standard (one in each four quotes converting to a confirmed, not even representing 1% of the Federal Government business.
Mr Andrew Gibbs from Primary Policy was engaged to assist MyJet in launching our services within the premium business market for a period of 12 months that concluded in early February 2015. Mr Gibbs spent a total of three days marketing MyJet’s services to the Federal Government, which included the standard industry practise of providing a compendium of our services to members of the Government, Opposition and Parliamentary Travel office.
Further, Mr Gibbs was not responsible during his contract to put together quotes for aircraft charters (this is responsibility of the senior crew who operate the aircraft). Mr Gibbs always conducted himself as a professional representative of MyJet, receiving no commission or incentives on bookings, nor are we aware if him receiving any form of inducement other than his agreed monthly fee. Mr Gibbs is not a permanent contractor to MyJet and concluded his engagement in early February 2015.
UPDATE MONDAY 7.20am: Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced the resignation of his Speaker, Bronwyn Bishop, on Sunday night, after weeks of furore surrounding her grandiose use of taxpayer-funded travel perks but refused to criticise his long-time "friend and colleague" suggesting that she was a victim of the system.
Mr Abbott has also unveiled a sweeping review into MPs' entitlements, saying a new system would restore public trust.
Mrs Bishop, who had stubbornly been refusing to resign despite more than two weeks of sustained pressure over her decision to hire a $5000 private helicopter to fly from Melbourne to a Liberal fund-raiser in Geelong, cited her "love and respect" of the parliament as the reason for her decision to go.
"I have not taken this decision lightly, however it is because of my love and respect for the institution of the parliament and the Australian people that I have resigned as Speaker," she said.
"I look forward to continuing to serve the people of Mackellar as their local member."
Read more about Bronwyn Bishop’s resignation here.
EARLIER: BENDIGO-based aviation company MyJet is embroiled in the latest chapter of the Bronwyn Bishop travel expenses saga which could see the Speaker forced to step down from the role.
Bendigo political lobbyist Andrew Gibbs’ company Primary Policy Partners organised the infamous $5000 helicopter charter through MyJet from Melbourne to Geelong on November 5.
Mr Gibbs is the best friend of Mrs Bishop’s chief of staff, Damien Jones.
Newscorp is reporting that just two weeks after the now notorious flight, the federal Speaker spent more than $6000 of taxpayers' money to charter a luxury aircraft to travel to the NSW south coast.
It is understood she attended several events, including Liberal fundraisers, in the towns of Nowra and Berry on November 22.
Mrs Bishop's office has refused to reveal whether the Nowra charter was also arranged by Mr Gibbs.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said the suggestions were "very serious".
"These reports take the seriousness of Bronwyn Bishop's misconduct to the next level," he said.
"If Mrs Bishop's personal relationships influenced her decision to repeatedly hire a particular company, then that is incredibly serious."
Prime Minister Tony Abbott can no longer ignore the demands of the Australian people for accountability, Mr Shorten said.
"Rather than punish Bronwyn Bishop, he's rewarding her by keeping her as Speaker. Tony Abbott rewarding Bronwyn Bishop is an insult to the millions of Australians who are disgusted by her behaviour."
Mrs Bishop publicly revealed a fortnight ago that she had chartered an aircraft to travel to Nowra – just 160 kilometres from Mrs Bishop's hometown of Sydney – asking the Department of Finance to examine it as part of a review into her expenses. But this is the first time the apparent cost of the flight has been made public.
Mrs Bishop also made a charter flight to the NSW town of Young in November last year but the cost of that flight has not yet been revealed.
Both flights should have been included in Mrs Bishop's latest six-monthly entitlements report but were omitted. Her office claims that is because the invoices did not arrive in time. There were seven months between the flights and the report's release.
Mrs Bishop paid back the $5227 cost of her Melbourne to Geelong chopper flight after deciding the cost was too high. But it took a further 12 days before she issued an apology to the Australian people over the flight.
On Saturday Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop said the Department of Finance investigation should take place and she was not going to offer a running commentary.
Asked if the ongoing scandal was making it difficult for the government, Ms Bishop said: "It can be difficult if your surname is Bishop, yes."