Health Minister Sussan Ley travelled to the Gold Coast for two consecutive New Year’s Eve functions on taxpayer-funded flights at the invitation of multimillionaire Sarina Russo, which included a party at the five-star Palazzo Versace hotel.
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Ms Ley had originally said she travelled to Queensland to discuss her government’s agenda with a “prominent Queensland businesswoman” at the end of 2013 and 2014.
“What I'm saying is they were business conversations, and they were important conversations to the future of our government's agenda,” she said.
A spokeswoman for the Farrer MP later said the businesswoman was Ms Russo, who owns a job placement company called Sarina Russo Job Access.
It snagged two federal government contracts in 2015, worth a combined total of more than $45 million.
Ms Russo posted an Instagram photo with Ms Ley in June 2015 with the caption: “Yes we are ready to get you a job! Call us! Why not you?”.
