You decide – but first let me mention some of the salaries, entitlements and retirement benefits that our politicians are currently receiving.
Our Prime Minister’s salary is currently $507,000 per annum, the Opposition Leader earns a salary of $360,990, Cabinet Ministers are earning $336,000 per year and the annual salary of a backbencher is over $195,000.
Over and above these salaries all Members of Parliament (MP’s) get an electorate allowance of up to $46,000 per year plus $270 per day tax free for every day spent in Canberra – that daily tax free allowance is almost an extra $2,000 in the pocket per week.
What about Superannuation? MP’s get 15.4% of the value of their salary paid into their superannuation fund by the tax payer. So 15.4% of a Cabinet Ministers salary of $336,000 is an additional $51,000 which is paid to them every year in Superannuation, on top of their salary.
Then there is travel. Unlimited business class airfares on “official business” plus a fully maintained private car plus a commonwealth car with driver for “official business”.
Some MP’s have been caught doing things that just are not right – such as the $5,000 helicopter flight when they could have gone by car as it was only a one hour car trip. Or others have gone on holidays with their entire families and got the taxpayer to pay for the flights, accommodation and meals – and all that they have needed to do is to have a meeting with someone who is in some way related to their ministerial portfolio, even if that meeting is for 3-4 hours for one day only and then it is all OK. The rorting has been done by both sides of politics.
You may be surprised to know that the salaries and entitlements that our politicians are earning are amongst the highest and most generous in the world. The president of the USA is earning $400,000 USD per year and the British Prime Minister is earning approximately 150,000 Pounds per year.
On a final note I would like to mention how our retired politicians continue to spend up big on taxpayers dollars. Former Prime Minister Julia Gillard is being paid a pension of $200,000 per year and will be getting that paid to her for the rest of her life – but it will of course also be indexed and go up every year as well. Plus for some strange reason she is also getting a fully paid office with at least two full time staff, at tax payers expense – and she is getting that for the rest of her life. What do these staff do? She also is getting a Gold Air Pass for the rest of her life, which entitles her up to 40 business class airfares every year and she is getting a car with a driver for the rest of her life, all at taxpayers’ expense. But it is not just Julia Gillard that gets all of that, it’s all of our retired PM’s that are getting it as well. Think about it, every retired PM gets an office with at least 2 full time staff, a car with driver plus at least 40 business class airfares every year – all paid by taxpayers.
So what are the retired politicians costing Australia every year? About $42 Million every year and growing.
So what do you think? Does this seem right? Personally I don’t have a problem with their salaries, as we need to try and attract good quality candidates to lead and run our country. But I think that if the rest of Australia is getting 9.5% in Superannuation our pollies should not be getting 15.4% out of the public purse. I also believe that an independent person/persons needs to be appointed to stop the rorts with the travel and accommodation misuse of public money. Perhaps they should have their travel booked by an independent authority who needs to justify it, rather than it be booked by the MP themselves or by their own personal assistants.
Finally why do our retired PM’s need an office with multiple staff – surely they should not be entitled to an office and staff or a car with a driver or business class airfares for free for the rest of their lives – I mean the country is in debt, right? Can we afford to allow our politicians to be doing this? I really don’t think this should be allowed to go on even if we were booming and had a surplus.
Please voice your thoughts on our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Blue-Collar-People/1484400968442110) on this and if you think that it’s not right please pass this on to your friends and let’s hope that with the weight of the public being outraged about this that it will stop at some stage in the future.
