I absolutely agree, if a pension isn’t an entitlement, neither
is theirs. They keep telling us that paying us an aged pension isn’t
sustainable.
Paying politicians all the perks they get is even less sustainable!
Proposals to make politicians shoulder their share of the weight now that the Age of Entitlement is over:
1. Scrap political pensions. Politicians can purchase their own
retirement plan, just as most other working Australians are expected to
do.
2. Retired politicians (past, present and future) participate in
Centrelink. A politician collects a substantial salary while in office
but should receive no salary when they’re out of office. Terminated
politicians under 70 can go get a job or apply for Centrelink
unemployment benefits like ordinary Australians. Terminated politicians
under 70 can negotiate with Centrelink like the rest of the Australian
people.
3. Funds already allocated to the politicians’ retirement fund be
returned immediately to Consolidated Revenue. This money is to be used
to pay down debt they created which they expect us and our grandchildren
to repay for them.
4. Politicians will no longer vote themselves a pay raise.
Politicians pay will rise by the lower of, either the CPI or 3 per cent.
5. Politicians lose their privileged health care system and
participate in the same health care system as ordinary Australian
people, i.e. politicians either pay for private cover from their own
funds or accept ordinary Medicare.
6. Politicians must equally abide by all laws they impose on the Australian people.
7. All contracts with past and present politicians men/women are void ASAP.
The Australian people did not agree to provide perks to politicians,
that burden was thrust upon them. Politicians devised all these
contracts to benefit themselves. Serving in parliament is an honour not a
career.
The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so our politicians
should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.
This is how you fix parliament and help bring fairness back into this country!
If you wonder why the above individuals are asking for your help, look at the figures below.
REMUNERATION SPECIFIED STATUTORY OFFICES
Date of Effect: 1 July 2014
Specified Statutory Office
Base Salary (per annum)
Total Remuneration for office (per annum)
Chief of the Defence Force > $535,100 – $764,420
Commissioner of Taxation > $518,000 – $740,000
Chief Executive Officer, Australian Customs and Border Protection Service > $483,840 – $691,200
Auditor-General for Australia > $469,150 – $670,210
Australian Statistician > $469,150 – $670,210
So if I press all the right buttons, the TOTAL annual wages for the 150 seats in the Parliament are:
Prime Minister – $507,338
Deputy Prime Minister – $400,016
Treasurer – $365,868
Leader of the Opposition – $360,990
House of Reps Speaker – $341,477
Leader of the House – $341,477
Minister in Cabinet – $336,599
Parliamentary secretary – $243,912
Other ministers* – $307,329 x 71 = A$21,820,359
Shadow ministers* – $243,912 x 71 = A$17,317,752
Source: Remuneration Tribunal
The TOTAL ANNUAL SALARIES (for 150 seats) = $41,694,311 – PER YEAR! And that’s just the Federal Politicians, no one else!For the Œlifetime payment example (below) I used the scenario that:
1. They are paid Œlifetime salaries the same as their last working year and
2. After retiring, the average pollie’s life expectancy is an additional 20 years (which is not unreasonable).
It’s worth remembering that this is EXCLUDING all their other perks!
So, for a 20 years’ Œlifetime payment (excluding wages paid while a parliamentarian):
Prime Minister @ $507,338 = A$10,146,760
Deputy Prime Minister @ $400,016 = A$8,000,320
Treasurer @ $365,868 = A$7,317,360
Leader of the Opposition @ $360,990 = A$7,219,800
House of Reps Speaker @ $341,477 = A$6,829,540
Leader of the House @ $341,477 = A$6,829,540
Minister in Cabinet @ $336,599 = A$6,731,980
Parliamentary Secretary @ $243,912 = A$4,782,240
Other ministers** @ $307,329 = A$6,146,580 x 71 = A$436,407,180
Shadow ministers** @ $243,912 = A$4,878,240 x 71 = A$346,355,040
Conclusions:
TOTAL Œlife time (20 year) payments (excluding wages paid while in parliament) = A$833,886,220 OVER $833 MILLION
Julia Gillard, Kevin Rudd, John Howard, Paul Keating, Malcolm Fraser,
Bob Hawke, et al, add nauseum, are receiving $10 MILLION + EXTRA at
taxpayer expense.
Should an elected PM serve 4 years and then decide to retire, each
year (of the 4 years) will have cost taxpayers an EXTRA two and a half
million bucks a year! $2,536,690 to be precise.
A 2-year retirement payment cut-off will SAVE our Oz bottom line A$792,201,909 … NEARLY $800 MILLION.
There are 150 seats in House, minus the 8 above = 142 seats, divided
equally for example = 71 each for both shadow and elected ministers.
This example excludes all wages paid while a parliamentarian AND all
perks on top of that – travel, hotels, Secretarial staff, speech
writers, restaurants, offices, chauffeured limos, security, etc. etc.
150 seats, 20-year payment of A$833,886,220 less annual salary x 2 years of A$83,388,622. [$41,694,311 x 2]
YOU’RE RIGHT, YOU HAVE FOUND WHERE THE CUTS SHOULD BE MADE!
ACTION: Push for a MAX 2 year post-retirement payment (give Œ’em time to get a real job).
Spread it far and wide folks. People should know.
Dr. Dale Kerwin
School of Education
Griffith University
Thank you to the community member who sent this to us.
What do you think of all of this information? Should the post-retirement
payment be cut?
This article was written by Starts at Sixty Writers
The Starts at 60 writers team seek out interesting topics and write them specially for you.
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