A former Helloworld executive has dropped a bombshell on the alleged background to his meeting with the Australian ambassador Joe Hockey.
The friendship of cigar-smokers,Joe Hockey and Mathias Cormann,is back under the spotlight.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison defended US ambassador Joe Hockey in Parliament.
Liberal Party treasurer and donor Andrew Burnes,pitched Hockey,his best friend,to help lobby for a big travel contract with Australia's diplomats in the US.
Senator Cormann said he had no direct knowledge of other Liberal politicians booking their personal travel in the same way,but he suspected some might have.
The Finance minister was booked as"staff and family"by the travel company Helloworld around the time it won an unrelated billion-dollar contract.