Australian Politics, Mark II

Just wait until candidates start having their Tinder messages revealed and analysed in public

3 Likes

MPs pull in over 200k a year. Not to mention a fantastic pension.

And you think Pauline would make that at the Ipswich fisho?

Just think of the numbnut senators…

Fraser Anning. Pulls in over 200k a year.

Absolutely ridiculous. That is great money.

1 Like

Hanson worked out a couple decades ago she could live nicely off this even if she didn’t get elected (by exceeding the minimum percent that triggers payment per vote).

2 Likes

Sorry Vanders it is not great money for the job they do. Now of course blokes like Christenson spends most of his time in Philippines, but my local MP works nearly every day of the week, most nights and is away from her family most of the time. Her choice to do this, of course, but in her previous life, she was a very well paid Consultant with a very large Company who paid her lots.

And she has to put up with abuse and idiots regularly. She will get a good pension having been in the job 20 years, but the new scheme is not so generous.

Lots and lots of Australians work a lot longer and a lot harder than our politicians and earn nowhere near 200k.

And thats the base pay. The retirement is ridiculous.

Plus if your half switched on, politicians get placed in cushy high paying jobs in the public service or corporate AustrĂĄlia AFTER serving.

Its bullshit.

The political class is one giant rip off.

Incidently US Senators get paid less, passing laws in a country with an economy what 30 to 50 times the size.

Its BS.

1 Like

They don’t get paid less actually Vanders , $200k AUD = $140,500 USD US Senator Wage = $179,000 USD… but they make a shitload more outside of that too, don’t worry about that.

Just check out how much Sen Joe Manchin alone made from coal assets while Voting continually for Coal mines in his State. And then read how much a heap of his mates did, …

https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/gwire/2011/07/26/26greenwire-sen-manchin-maintains-lucrative-ties-to-family-64717.html?pagewanted=1

There’s nothing more corrupt than old white male Millionaire US politicians.

1 Like

Maybe maggots are

That’s just the Government singing from the hymn sheet that Washington has given us. It won’t matter which one (LNP or ALP), it will be the same notes.

1 Like

China is important to our trade future, and I expect our new government and Foreign Minister will have a much better relationship with Beijing. Sam Dastryi for Ambassador

The pension doesn’t exist for pollies who got in after 2014.

The only reason they don’t make that extremely public, as you think they would as it’s used to berate them, is because they all hope they can get it re-instated without too much publicity.

1 Like

And many Australian politicians make buckets outside their paypacket from politics.

It is absolutely disengenous to suggest people arent in politics for the money.

If there was no money in it, it wouldnt be full of middle aged white men.

The US also gets by with two Senators per state.

So the likes of California or NY are represented by two Senators. Tasmania, with about 1% of CA’s population, has 12.

And all of them get taxpayer-funded staff and perks. That is a colossal waste of money.

1 Like

Absolutely. The cost and size of Government in Australia is criminal.

Its a hangover of our convicts colonial heritage.

We are one of the lowest taxing countries in the oecd, giving the geographic size of our country I’d say that makes us ok for size/cost of government

Not that you’d do a proportional allocation (e.g. ~13 Senators and ~65 Reps). Especially since our ministers etc are taken from that, not just random people the President wants.

And sacks three months later.

Also, there are the allowances they may receive.

For example, TD2017/19 (ATO Tax Determination) provides a DAILY rate of $157.15 for meals plus $246 daily for accomodation without substantiation for employees (salary $119,651 to $212,950) being away from home and working in Canberra for the 2018 income year.
Snouts well and truly in the trough.

Im not suggesting the American system is perfect, although I do like some of their quirks. Like state capitals often being smaller regional centres.

Its just a comparison that politicians, like the salaries in some of our large institutions are incredibly rich.

For a country of 24M people we are over governed, beyond the argument of checks and balances.

I havent even started on the 500 plus local government councils or state based waste.

And government is the stuff which doesnt get reformed. Why? Because it requires a revolution when it gets sĂł bad. At least the Liberal party in NSW consolidated Sydney somewhat.

Teachers, priests, politicians. Put yourself forward as someone who feels fit to determine how others ought to live and think then absolutely you should be held to an exceptional standard, which doesn’t mean saintly. To Labor’s credit that conversation seems reasonably open. If I’m going to be honest I wish they’d go harder and be more ruthless, so many genuine angles of attack they just seem to ignore. Go dirty to get there, reconcile after. Not going to heaven

Shower thought: What if party alliance was removed from the senate?