General Chat

Well at last our PM has taken a stand against the 'Lifetime Gold Pass' scheme for retired members of Parliament.

This scheme enabled ex-pollies and their spouses to have 10 free business class trips per year for travel within Australia.

Some MP's are not happy chappies :-|

http://www.news.com.au/national/politician-opposes-own-governments-axing-of-taxpayer-funded-gold-pass-for-former-mps/news-story/5e1fb29c8a7079dc7d57e9c3e989944e

I particularly enjoyed the third paragraph from the end

"Mr Macdonald wants to strengthen the proposed expenses watchdog to include oversight of all taxpayer-funded positions, including public servants, judges and statutory tribunals such as the Human Rights Commission. “Everyone should be as open and transparent and accountable as parliamentarians are,” he told AAP."{

The words open, Transparent and accountable in particular made me laugh, when all the various travel expenses of sitting MP's came to light!

There has been a succession of MP's from all sides who have quit or resigned front bench positions following such travel , an other so called entitlements scandals, the most prominent one being the previous Speaker in the House of Representatives

http://www.theage.com.au/comment/the-age-editorial/politicians-pensions-the-age-of-entitlement-is-alive-and-well-20150806-git7i0.html

Meanwhile, pensioners will be stripped of their energy supplement under legislation currently before Parliament!

Rant Over

:-|

Lots of "lookers" Allan..........but maybe ozzie politics are of not much interest..elsewhere............


Same tar.........similar brush might apply there...........

On a world half a planet away two of my rellies sit in the Oz parliament; neither give the impression of needing state travel assistance. Oz politics follows the tone set by the test cricket team with "sledging" being the norm. The country is slowly going broke and cannot meet its health and pension commitments. The only way out is a super mega relaxation of immigration regulations which is as likely as snow on Green island.

So they tanned his hide when he died Fred
And thats it hanging on the shed.

Well done them, to get that through, Allan.

We could do with more like that in the UK.

We're still waiting for most of the second house cheats and the likes of the duck house lot to be sacked! Only a few have been punished.

In the world of UK workers anyone pulling those stunts would have almost certainly been dealt with immediately and not with a slap on the wrist.

It seems Oz has the same problems with politicians as UK does (and proabaly others). Make sure the Hoi Polloi pay up but preserve our 'benefits'.

Thanks for the comments.

Rollo, I also know an ex-parliamentarian and in my professional life had many dealings with him and his company as he was a WA local.

He is an extremely nice person and was and still is extremely rich. At one time apart from Turnbull he was one of the richest men in Parliament.

After his resignation the fact of his riches did not prevent him and his family taking advantage to fly to Broome twice a year using his lifetime gold pass entitlement.

Incidentally is there not a country on this planet where you have relatives in high places?

We could do with a bit of transparency in the UK!
Run a failing banking system, cost the county billions - still get a bonus.
Fake your expenses as an MP - a slap on the wrist.
Be overpaid in Benefits (not the claimant's fault - the fault of the Agency) - you're declared a Benefit Fraudster.

Maggie the Australian guidelines for expenses are so loose that you could drive several steamrollers abreast through them.

Our ex Minister for Health, Susan Lay, used this looseness to attend a meeting on the Gold coast.

Fair enough, except on the same day she and her husband bought a property there via an auction. When this came to light, she claimed that the property, which sold for $750,00, was a spur of the moment decision :-S

She never was able to produce her diary for any of the meetings she claimed to have held, nor did any individuals come forth to agree that she had met with them.

The rules over 'entitlements' exclude private travel.

It's amazing how many MP's have managed to arrange 'meetings ' that
coincide with weddings, horse races, polo matches etc

Yes, strange how a 'meeting' coincides with an 'event', isn't it?

I'd like to know why, if there's a change in circumstances of a member of the public, on, say on Tax Credits, the recipient has to send a letter of notification.

However, if the Government wants to extend my pension age by 5 years, I should have watched the TV at the right time, or read the 'appropriate' newspapers, to learn of this.

I received a letter when I was 56, informing me my pension age was to be 66 - when they'd added another year to my purgatory.
They never told me 'officially' it was 65.
Yet I have to accept it.

I know the feeling, Maggie.

Having arranged our finances under the 'old' rules and gone without holidays etc to be able to provide for ourselves in our dotage ,the rules suddenly changes a couple of budgets ago.

Next month, when OH turns 65 and her superannuation is taken into account, I lose my Ozzie Aged Pension and OH will never receive one,
which is why I am bitter about pollies who are on decent salaries then rort the system

Edit. The changes to the aged pension did not have a grandfather clause, they apply retrospectively

Strange how the changes are retrospective when it comes to the 'average bod', but not when it comes to those who propose them :-(

One if the greatest political hypocrites for me was Neil Kinnock.
He wanted to win an election with a slogan that read vote for me boyos, I'll get you out of Europe. He lost the election, the leadership of the Labour party

THEN HOPPED IT TO BECOME AN EEC COMMISSIONER (AND HIS WIFE)

You surely don't regard a seat in the Oz parliament as "high places". What an idea. Now being on the committee of the Victoria Racing Club at Flemington is high places but well beyond the average Mp. Senators may manage it though.

You have the advantage over me Rollo.

I have absolutely no interest in horse racing or any other form of equine sport so I have no idea how the committee of the Victoria Racing Club is chosen/elected nor the significance of that particular body.

With the Senators currently sitting in the Senate I would not propose any of them on to any Committee or Board unless it was to do with Lunatic Asylums!

Not only do a lot of MPs think they're in high places, some of their wives do to, simply by being their wives.

I can testify to this, having served on a committee where one MP's wife thought everyone would hang on her every word. In my opinion, she didn't seem to have much going for her but while I and a couple of others fought a (mostly) losing battle to get her to think objectively and reasonably, there were several sycophants who hung on her every word and voted the way she wanted people to vote every time. They were used.

Some crazy things got passed because of this allied group of ***** ***** , no matter that there was a handful of us who fought against some ridiculous proposals.

I think we all know that this sort of thing is a commonplace occurrence everywhere.

Given that Australia us a nation that largely defined itself by sports of all kinds ( in which it is extremely successful) I suppose Allan is not much interested in what Australia is good at. Otoh the huge crowds at the Melbourne Cup suggest he has a minority opinion.

My rellie in the Senate is not any more mad than any other person who believes that Australia is part of Europe prob. Less so.

Ha ha, Rollo.

The best thing about Melbourne Cup Day as far as I and lots of others were concerned was that we got a day off. :-D

JoyLouise, in the West the race that stops a nation is not a holiday, even though there is a significant amount of interest in the event.

I have noticed that what some Australian Melbourne Cup attendees are particularly good at is getting smashed out of their minds and acting like complete morons. Admittedly this a minority of people but their behaviour receives adverse publicity nationwide, if not worldwide.

But we are drifting off-topic :-0