In a firm rebuke of the Speaker’s liberal use of charter entitlements, Mr McCormack said the scandal was disappointing and had sucked the oxygen out of the government’s other messages.

“Perhaps if she’d taken a plane, Comcar or even a taxi there wouldn’t have been a furore,” he said. “It seems a lot over the top to be hiring helicopters.”

At the time, Mr McCormack was trying to sell the government’s message of a debt emergency and a need for frugality as part of its Finance team, which has since been somewhat undermined by the Speaker’s $5200 helicopter flight between Melbourne and Geelong to attend a fundraiser.

The charter flights scandal that has engulfed the speaker has now put the use of entitlements by other MPs, such as Mr McCormack, firmly under the microscope.

In the second half of last year, the member for Riverina spent $7316.35 on charter flights, mainly between Griffith and Wagga Wagga, which he said were necessary to ensure he could honour long-standing appointments and commitments that are sometimes made months in advance.

“I admit plane travel isn’t cheap, but the thing is, I only use it when I absolutely need to,” Mr McCormack said.

“I charter when I’ve set these appointments up, you can’t get out of them and all of a sudden you have to go somewhere quickly.”

A charter flight between Wagga Wagga and Griffith can take from 25 minutes to an hour, depending on headwinds – a significant reduction on the more than two-hour road journey.

“It’s not always possible to get (to events in outlying towns) by driving yourself,” Mr McCormack said. “Most days it’s a 7am start and you’re not getting home some nights until after midnight.”

As for the Speaker’s visit to the Riverina last month to speak at Reserve Forces Day commemorations, Fairfax Media understands Mrs Bishop flew to and from Wagga Wagga for the event.