Frances Abbott scholarship: Leanne Whitehouse pressed PM to cut red tape

The managing director of the Whitehouse Institute of Design, who is understood to have personally funded an unadvertised $60,000 scholarship for the prime minister’s daughter, issued a direct plea to Tony Abbott to reduce red tape across the board in higher education at an exclusive event last year, but the institute says any suggestion these remarks were an attempt at lobbying or seeking to interfere with the regulatory process are ridiculous.

The statement follows further revelations published by the independent news site New Matilda that the prime minister attended a champagne reception for the 25th anniversary of the institute where Leanne Whitehouse, the institute’s managing director, delivered a speech to attendees including the prime minister — via redwolf.newsvine.com