After all that nasty business with Sussan Ley and entitlements that played out last month, it’s unsurprising that Malcolm Turnbull wants to make the entire realm of parliamentary perks a non-issue. However, his decision to unilaterally shut down the Life Gold Pass travel perk system has caused a huge volume of sooking among his colleagues.
The Life Gold Pass, for the uninitiated, gives former MPs business-class travel courtesy of the taxpayer. You might understand why a system like that might raise eyebrows.
Understandably, despite the fact they’d obviously hate this change, most MPs have kept their mouth shut about the Gold Pass. It’s not particularly wonderful optics to be seen defending your entitlement to free business-class travel outside of, say, a lavish dinner party with your closest friends and allies.
Enter Ian Macdonald, a LNP backbencher senator from Queensland. He’s threatening to oppose his own party’s plan to axe the Life Gold Pass, and made the particularly interesting claim that politicians should be entitled to it because they work very hard and don’t get paid particularly well for it.
For the record: as a backbencher, Macdonald received an annual salary of $200,000. A pittance, really.
He was speaking in the Senate on an unrelated matter when he launched into his spiel about the Life Gold Pass:
It’s about time our leaders started just emphasising how much work politicians do, how much commitment most of the people who sit in this parliament have. They don’t get particularly well paid. Most parliamentarians, well those on this side, would have done infinitely better financially staying in their legal practice, staying in their business, staying in their veterinary practice, staying in their jobs they had before.
He confirmed to Fairfax Media that he would be making some moves to amend the bill, but did not clarify exactly what amendments or changes he would be tabling.
Former Liberal MP Ewan Jones sledged Macdonald and those with the same take, saying it’s motivated purely by self-interest;
It’s about complete and utter self interest. No one can expect their workplace entitlements to remain the same forever. It’s Ian’s right to make his point but no politician will ever win in any argument about their wages and conditions.
We’ll see how it goes, but let’s be honest: the Life Gold Pass is really not very defensible at all, is it?
Source: Sydney Morning Herald.
Photo: Liberal Party.
