grodscorp@grods.comPoliticians’ pay
 | Posted by Lachlan Connor on Thursday 21 June 2007, 8:55 am Categories: Politics Tags: LachlanConnor, politicians, remuneration |
This guest post comes from 2007 independent Senate candidate Lachlan Connor, whose campaign is being video documented by GrodsCorp and can be seen here.
– The Editor
Pollies’ pay is the ultimate Today Tonight issue. It galvanises the punters like few other debates because people like nothing less than politicians halting their childish babble long enough in Parliament to quickly and efficiently award themselves a bipartisan bonus. Never mind that an independent body sets politicians’ pay rates.
But I’m going to say something quite controversial here: I don’t think politicians get paid enough. For crying out loud, these people are in charge of running our country and we pay the Prime Minister about a tenth the salary of the CEO of Macquarie Bank. I know that politicians spend a lot of time talking shit and worrying about nothing but their own re-election but it doesn’t change the fact that they hold one of the most important jobs in the country.
Think about the average day in the life of the average politician. There are endless interviews, meetings, sittings in Parliament, meet-and-greets out on the street, reading, reading and more reading. There is very little down time in a pollies’ job and, I suspect, it very much takes over your life and affects the time you have to spend with family and friends. And on top of that, everyone hates you with a passion just because you’re a politician. What a job!
Every time politicians’ pay hits the headlines at least one MP runs the argument that better pay is required to attract better people to the profession. Utter bullshit. Just like The Editor didn’t start teaching for the money, I didn’t put a halt to my other profitable activities to launch my tilt at the Senate.
At the risk of sounding greedy due to my likely election to the Senate later this year, my point is that pollies should be paid more because just becuse they deserve it. End of story.
Thursday 21 June 2007, 10:10 am #Jangari
I think if pollies were paid less, then the profession would only attract those who were more dedicated to the job. Not too much less, of course, but the perpetual superannuation is a bit too much of a sweetener.
Whoa, new thought. Why don’t we make politicians’ pay outcome-based, you know, just like teachers. I bet Julie Bishop would love that.
Thursday 21 June 2007, 2:38 pm #The Happy Revolutionary
Some of those logs on the backbenches of both parties are paid too much as it is. Most of them do incredibly little, and only come to Parliament so that they’re not exposed to the elements outside.
Thursday 21 June 2007, 3:36 pm #J, The
I like where you are going with that, Jangari.
Let’s put our pollies to the Work Choices test. We give them AWAs replete with KPIs, performance targets and required outcomes. If they don’t meet their targets in a given quarter, they lose $$ and face dismissal after repeatedly falling short. Under Work Choices we, their employers, the Australian people, can make them subject to reduced holiday time, not give them public holidays and remove their powers of appeal for unfair dismissal if they don’t meet their targets. That might make them finally put their money where their mouths are.
Thursday 21 June 2007, 5:52 pm #John Surname
I agree, and also, their long suffering 16-21 year old campaign manager’s assistants should be paid at least $60,000 a year.
Thursday 21 June 2007, 5:55 pm #John Surname
Seriously though, the best idea about politician’s pay that I’ve heard is to put them on the average Australian’s income. As it grows, so will theirs, and maybe they might work a little harder for the average person.