ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact
Opposition leader Sussan Ley has reportedly left her electorate staff rattled after a tense pre-flight exchange at Albury Airport yesterday morning. The Member for Farrer was preparing to fly her Cessna 206 to Pooncarie for a scheduled photo opportunity when the incident occurred.
According to staff present on the tarmac, the media advisor assigned to accompany her attempted to withdraw from the trip by quietly suggesting she could take the camera and complete the task herself. Witnesses say the advisor delivered the line with the tone of someone who had only recently learned how often light aircraft end up inverted, ablaze and in a million pieces on the side of some mountain.
Colleagues claim Ms Ley responded by reaching into her handbag and producing what appeared to be a modified Colt Python chambered for .357 Magnum. It remains unclear whether the weapon was real, ornamental or simply part of a long running joke within the office. Staff say she pointed it at the advisor and told him, reportedly without raising her voice, "Get in the fucking plane, you little bedwetting fuck. Or I will shoot you right here on the tarmac. They let us do that once a year in this job and I am not afraid to waste it on you."
The advisor boarded immediately and tightened his seatbelt to the point where he required assistance loosening it upon landing. He declined lunch at the Pooncarie Hotel.
The pair arrived in the Darling River settlement on schedule and completed the planned photograph next to a recently sealed section of road. Staff say Ms Ley later reminded the advisor that voters respect leaders who fly themselves across their electorates, rather than bill the taxpayer for first class flights around the world to do fuck all in the scheme of things.
Her office declined to answer questions about the firearm, the quote or whether staff are issued aviation waivers before entering the Cessna 206.
More to come.
