The most controversial helicopter flight in Australian political history, Bronwyn Bishop's $5000 hop from Melbourne to a Liberal Party fundraiser in Geelong, was just 40 kilometres shorter. Confirmation of four helicopter flights forced Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce's office to withdraw its statement to Fairfax Media that the two flights to Drake were his only helicopter uses since 2013. Credit:Andrew Meares Fairfax Media revealed on Thursday that Mr Joyce had taken two $4000 helicopter flights to visit the small New England community of Drake, 44 kilometres away from his second ministerial office in Tenterfield but a four hour drive away from his Tamworth home. He took a fourth helicopter trip from Armidale to Legume near the Queensland border in February last year, according to parliamentary records for electorate-related travel. That flight, to announce a $350,000 road upgrade, cost the public $4737.

Confirmation of four helicopter flights forced Mr Joyce's office on Friday to withdraw its statement to Fairfax Media on Thursday that the two flights to Drake were his only helicopter usage since becoming the MP for New England in 2013. Nationals senator John Williams (right) has defended Barnaby Joyce over his use of helicopters, saying he's "done absolutely nothing wrong". Credit:Alex Ellinghausen "Our statement was incorrect and we are going to correct it online," said a spokesman. The flight to Copeton Dam, taken in February 2014, was to show Paul Fletcher, the then parliamentary secretary to then communications minister Malcolm Turnbull, the "lack of mobile phone coverage in the area", a spokesman for Mr Joyce said. Bronwyn Bishop was forced to resign as Speaker following outcry over her $5000 chopper flight to a Liberal Party fundraiser. Credit:James Brickwood

"Due to other commitments a helicopter was chartered to maximise Mr Fletcher's time on the ground," he said. In fending off criticism on Thursday, Mr Joyce said it was unfair to put the Drake trips in context of his nearby electorate office in Tenterfield because "I don't sleep in my second electorate office". In 2015 he defended the $370,000 cost of relocating his ministerial office from Sydney to Armidale because he would use it a lot. "Armidale is a lot easier for rural people to get to see me and ministerial staff than an office in the middle of Sydney," he told the Tenterfield Star. If Mr Joyce had driven from his home in Tamworth to Copeton Dam, the journey would be 200 kilometres or a little over two hours.

Asked about Mr Joyce's flights to Drake on Friday, Mr Turnbull said the "aerial option" avoided a "very, very long car drive". "His electorate is, I think, 66,000 square kilometres, about a quarter of the size of Victoria. The travel, if he had gone by road, would have been, I think, about four hours or a bit more each way," he said. NSW National Party senator John Williams attacked Fairfax Media for questioning Mr Joyce's Drake flights. "He's done absolutely nothing wrong. If you want to shackle us back to using a push bike no one in our electorates are going to see us," he said. Labor MP Pat Conroy said it was "extraordinary" that Mr Joyce took another helicopter flight two days after the release of a recent review of entitlements warning against the use of choppers. "Barnaby has clearly learned nothing from the Bishop choppergate affair," he said.

The review called for clear guidelines so the "use of charter transport must constitute value for money, and in particular that, in the absence of compelling reasons, helicopters cannot be chartered to cover short distances". Barnaby's flights Armidale-Drake, 238km each way, $3836, March 24, 2016 Armidale -Legume, 283km each way, $4737, February 13, 2015 Armidale-Jubullum-Drake, 238km each way, $4166, June 10, 2015

Loading Armidale-Copeton Dam, 121km each way, $2211, February 21, 2014 Follow us on Twitter