Lachlan Connor received a strange email while I was overseas:

Hi Lachlan

Stuart Ulrich from the seat of Charlton, I myself will also be running as an independent.

Just something remember the constitution.

At the Parliament House website one can search for the why behind this, using constitutional debates for the search.

As I have found our government and those in Canberra, that’s is all of them are constitutionally inept.

The constitution holds certain powers for federal and those of the states that they had when the constitution was signed is 1900.

Good Luck

Stuart

Um, yeah. Right.

Anyway, I did some Google detective work and discovered that Stuart Ulrich is the “founder” of something called The Australian Peoples Party (no apostrophe in sight.) The Party’s mission statement:

The aims of this Party are fairly simple, being to take back government from the major Parties and actually govern for the people of this great country.

That’s right, GOVERN FOR YOU.

To provide the care to those who cannot any longer care for themselves.

To ensure that the future of Australia ’s men and women and families of the Defence Forces is assured rather than forgotten after a photo opportunity.
To provide the security, on joining the forces, should one of these men and women be injured or otherwise leave with a reduced capacity to earn a suitable income for themselves and their familes.

But the passion behind TAPP all seems to come down to anger about poltical perks and waste.

This site, the documentation, policies and constitution have been put together over the internet.
That’s right, those involved in that process have never met.

So what you say? Wouldn’t that just mean you don’t know each other? Not so, in any way. Email and phone contact is all that was needed to reach agreement on these policies etc.
This amply demonstrates the major Parties total incompetence, unneeded use of taxpayers money and blatant waste of the same for the endless meetings, trips and more.
It further shows that these Parties not only waste taxpayers money but they do so for Party Political purposes.

How often have you heard of various Coaliton MP’s being flown to Canberra for meetings when all it is really about is fronting the PM and being given an ultimatum. Which is “Stick your hand up or get out”!.
It also shows the major Parties do not have the technical know how to reach the people of this country except by using YOUR MONEY.

Why should current MP’s travel this country during election campaigns at your expense? We have no explanation but we do have alternatives. It’s Party work, not government remember. Do non sitting members get this privelige.
NO WAY.

When you vote did you know that any candidate/Party that receives 4% or more of the primary vote will be paid $1.99 per vote? From the taxpayer. To fund political campaigns.
Vote first for anyone other than the major Parties as they do not need us to pay for their campaign(s).

And how will Stuart and TAPP fight this money-for-votes scourge?

The Australian Peoples Party is hoping to have this party registered for the federal election. We have always wondered what these other party’s have done with the $2.10 that they receive for every person, as long as they have reached 4% of the primary vote.

Well The Australian Peoples Party is going to give it to you straight, we are going to give back to the electorate for which we have a candidate stand 75% and this will be used for those causes or organisations that require a hand.

You may think this is some sort of joke or a catch involved but no there isn’t. This party is not about becoming rich but to do the right thing and yes we are putting our money where our mouths are.

So if you are thinking of running at the next federal election as an independent or just fed up and want to have a go then you are on the right course.

Awesome!

Anyway, if any of you can help Lachlan decode Stuart’s email he might be able to reply.

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.