Politicians pay rise

[Jovial Monk]

The Fed pollies get a 3% payrise after having had pay frozen for 18 months. So Bob Brown does one of his populist stunts 'I will move to disallow this huge increase because the battlers didn't anything from the Fair Pay Commission." (Not an exact quote, couldn't be fucked looking it up.)

Dunno if he realises these outbursts of cheap populism damage him and the Greens? Any way to get on telly?

Most of the battlers got a $900 cheque, some laborers are working not unemployed due to the stimulus (schools and other infrastructure.) Those paying off mortgages, those driving a car have had saving thanks to drops in petrol price and interest rates.

Instead of the cheap populism he could have criticised Rudd etc inaction on building much more public housing and other action to relieve the rental housing shortage--we have homeless who are working (this weeks 4Corners) thanks to the tightness in the rental market. Any defence accommodation that could be rented out as an interim measure?

Fucking Xenophon the media tart is also making noises about the payrise.

Bob you cheap bastard you will retire on a fat parliamentary pension so stop the cheap stunt. Instead, how about some concerted action to get the EST established?

A PB commenter made a good comment re pollies pay: better to give them a higher wage and remove the non-transparent stuff like gold cards, living away from home allowance and the like.

[mantra.]

Apart from the politicians and YOU - no-one will criticise the Greens. The pollies don't deserve what they get with their fat allowances, perks and super after only 7 years of service.

The Greens are growing in popularity with the public and they about the only party left that isn't into gluttony and feeding at the trough.

Why shouldn't they criticise Rudd - he's a populist and next to useless, not to mention being a chronic liar. Huge allocations of funding is supposedly set aside, yet we're lucky if 25% actually goes towards the nominated projects. The rest is spent on reviews, management and consultancy fees and stuffing around. Now Rudd is making another pact with the G20 to align all our economies and calling it a new world order. This is exactly what got us into trouble in the first place. Howard did exactly the same thing - and this was also called the new world order at the time. Howard was a puppet, but so is Rudd except he's got more strings to pull.

Don't you dare call Bob Brown a cheap bastard. He is probably one of the most altruistic and genuine politicians this country has ever seen.

[Jovial Monk]

Puppets don't pull strings.

A lot of people criticise the Greens, even more will if they vote against the ETS a second time.

[Jovial Monk]

Going from the cheap (will BB donate his parliamentary pension to charity and live on the old age pension? Doubt it! Cheap populism!

Going from the cheap to the ridiculous, Barnyard dribbled:

Kevin Rudd has declined to agree with a call by Nationals Senate leader Barnaby Joyce for the prime minister's salary to be tripled to $1 million.

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-wo ... -g56e.html

[Ethnic]

Don't you dare call Bob Brown a cheap bastard. He is probably one of the most altruistic and genuine politicians this country has ever seen.

Bullcrap. When Bob Brown lost that court case not long ago and had to pay $240 000 on court costs, he cried poor and took money from generous supporters. Then the truth came out, he had the money but was too cheap to pay it out of his own pocket. And as Jovial Monk said, Brown-eye will criticise the pay rise but he will gladly take the generous pension and super entitlements. Will he also refuse to take the extra money he will be getting as a result of the pay rise? You bet he won't.

[Jovial Monk]

Exactly, Celly. Bob was just getting publicity for the Greens, but came out looking cheap and opportunistic.

What do you reckon giving the pollies more money and taking away the gold card, lafh allowance etc?

Politicians work crap hours, hardly ever see their family etc. They do deserve to be paid. (I was at a polly's house Christmass Eve--he got a phone call from a desperate constituent! There went Christmass Eve!) Fed pollies have even less time with families.

[mantra.]

Don't you dare call Bob Brown a cheap bastard. He is probably one of the most altruistic and genuine politicians this country has ever seen.

Bullcrap. When Bob Brown lost that court case not long ago and had to pay $240 000 on court costs, he cried poor and took money from generous supporters. Then the truth came out, he had the money but was too cheap to pay it out of his own pocket. And as Jovial Monk said, Brown-eye will criticise the pay rise but he will gladly take the generous pension and super entitlements. Will he also refuse to take the extra money he will be getting as a result of the pay rise? You bet he won't.

Don't be so selective in your criticism Celetina. The truth is out there in the public arena. Bob Brown forked out $1 million of his own money - all that he had - for a cause most Greens' supported. He won the case through the Federal Court, but unfortunately Forestry Tasmania which has a long list of corruption allegations against them, appealed through the High Court and gained a judgement resulting in Bob Brown having to pay their costs. He publicly asked his supporters to help him. He didn't steal from them or disguise the issue under another name - he told the truth, which is more than the ALP or Liberals are capable of doing. His supporters are generous - why wouldn't they be? They choose sustainability of this beautiful country (or what's left of it) for their kids and grandkids over the destruction of it.

[Ethnic]

Now you're being selective mantra. He went on T.V sobbing to any fluffy bunny that was bored enough to listen that he didn't have the money to pay the court costs but he did. He lied because he's a cheap bastard. He reminds me of one of those stingy pricks at a restaurant who eats and drinks plenty but then bolts when the bill arrives, leaving the unsuspecting friend to pay. You also fail to address the fact that he helps himself to the generous super and pension entitlements and will not refuse the extra money he will now be getting. He's also a hypocrite - fucking on about an ETS but rejects it when it reaches the Senate. Hmm?

[boxy]

Brown wants pollies underpaid, Barnaby wants them overpaid. Blah.

There are fringe benefits to being a pollie, that means that even at the current pay rates, below comparable private sector wages, some of the best "talent" is still attracted to it.

Power, and lots of it.

[JWFrogen]

Boxy is right, the political animal is attracted more to power than money. I do not even mean power in a negative sense, the power to make their ideas become reality. And they love the thrill of the fight, the competition. Kim Beasly recently said politics is like a drug.

I don’t want my politicians thinking like CEOs, running a corporation is not the same art as running a country. Given the massive ethical, indeed competence failures of CEOS world wide revealed last year I think CEOs should rethink how they operate. Perhaps CEOs should modeal on politicians? Instead of receiving massive pay outs even if their company fails they should be removed for failure without further reward.

Government is public service, it is not meant to be for private enrichment. Indeed it would be a bad thing to have a Prime Minister so well paid he no longer has any concept of the economic realities most Australians face.