Politicians' perks shows corruption is systemic
By Norm Dixon
The fall-out from the so-called "Colston affair" reveals the massive gap between the lifestyles of politicians of all stripes and those of the vast majority of working people. The federal government, the Labor opposition and the big business media are working overtime to paint the hapless Mal Colston as a "bad apple", and pretend that once he resigns or faces criminal charges, everything will be hunky-dory. But even a cursory look at the huge salaries and perks available to MPs show that there is something deeply rotten with the system.
The mystery is why Colston and other crooked MPs bother to rort the system when the trough is overflowing with "legitimate" handouts. In federal parliament today a backbench MHR or senator with no responsibilities collects an annual salary of $81,856 plus an electorate allowance of $26,076 to $37,813.
After eight years of hard yakka in parliament, politicians are entitled to a pension for life equal to at least half their base salary. If they last 18 years, 75% of their base salary flows in. They can opt for half their entitlement as a lump sum.
Large numbers of MPs sit on various committees and so get even more cash. A committee chairperson draws up to $94,930. As deputy president of the Senate, Colston gathers in a cool $98,200 before extras (legitimate and illegitimate). Ministers' salaries start at $124,000, climbing to $134,000 for cabinet ministers.
Prime Minister John Howard pockets at least $231,000 with allowances. National Party leader and deputy PM Tim Fischer can relate to drought-stricken farmers while living it up on $203,000 after perks. Treasurer Peter Costello preaches austerity on at least $177,000 after allowances.
Kim Beazley, making ends meet on $145,384 (before perks) as leader of the opposition, can truly appreciate the sacrifices made by ordinary workers over 13 years of the Labor government's Accord.
While in Canberra and other capital cities, every MP is offered the use of a chauffeur-driven car. If they prefer, they are supplied with, not one but two luxury cars with all petrol, maintenance and repairs thrown in. Telephone calls — the government pays for the installation of two dedicated phone lines in every MP's home — are free and unlimited. And then there's the $22,000 thrown in for stamps.
When away from home, MPs are entitled to an allowance of $145 a night in Canberra and $245 in other cities. Office holders and PMs naturally get more. If an MP rents a cheap flat in Canberra or kips down with mates in Melbourne or Perth, or beds down at the YHA Hostel in Sydney, they can pocket the difference.
Politicians have unlimited first-class travel within Australia by air, rail or bus on parliamentary or electorate business. An MP's spouse or parent, child or sibling can tag along for free for much of the time. Every three years, each MP and their spouse get a first-class around-the-world ticket for "study" purposes.
The former independent member for the federal seat of North Sydney, Ted Mack, told Green Left Weekly that the hypocrisy of politicians "burns me up".
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, he said, MPs lectured workers that their wages, holiday leave loadings and penalty rates made the Australian economy uncompetitive. At the same time, they granted themselves ever greater salaries and perks and engaged in barely legal "lurks". Federal parliamentary salaries have risen 70% in the last decade, compared to 40% for the average worker.
According to Mack, the Colstons of the parliamentary system are not simply "bad apples". "Our political system itself is conducive to corruption in both detail and basic structure."
Mack is an unusual MP. Before winning the safe seat from the Liberal Party in 1990, he resigned from his seat in the NSW state parliament just two days before becoming eligible for a $1 million super pay-out. Mack retired from federal parliament in 1993.
Federal MPs' salaries are set by a tribunal of three retired people, "all of whom have been on the public purse all their lives. They simply don't reflect community values", Mack explained.
Most MPs end up with about double their base salaries because there are no limits on many of the allowances they have granted themselves.
"It is not unknown for members to have chauffeur-driven Commonwealth cars pick up their laundry in Canberra or wait for hours outside restaurants, all at $80 an hour, while family or friends can drive two other free cars provided to the member ...
"Overseas junkets have expanded almost exponentially through an array of pretexts. Partners, children and ever increasing staff are added to the caravans. One former member and his wife ran up 224 separate first class air flights in 365 days at public expense. In 1993, 118 former federal ministers made 3135 first class air flights let alone what must be many thousands of flights by other former federal and state MPs and bureaucrats", Mack wrote in the March 8 Australian.
All the expenses associated with Pauline Hanson criss-crossing Australia to launch her new racist party are being met by the taxpayers, Mack told Green Left Weekly. The ALP and the Liberal Party are massively subsidised in this way too.
"The parliamentary superannuation scheme is virtually criminal in my book", Mack said. "MPs get it when they leave parliament, even if they are in their early 30s. They can then double-dip for the rest of their lives. It is an unfunded scheme, so the MPs can extend the benefits at any time they like at no cost to themselves."
Nepotism is rife, Mack added. "No ministers should have wives, girlfriends, boyfriends and children working on their staff", he insisted. It is common practice for MPs to employ family members in their offices and pay them overtime even if they don't show up to work.
"There are no rules about whether MPs should work" at other jobs, Mack said, adding that many MPs carry on with their business activities despite the possible conflict of interest.
"There no rules about what they should accept by way of gifts. I see that a whole stack of MPs have gone off to Taiwan, all expenses paid by the Taiwan government. There should be a rule that there should be no acceptance of gifts from foreign governments." The South African government took MPs "over there to try to get them to support apartheid", he recalled.
All these perks flow through to the judiciary, top public servants, state MPs and their bureaucracies, and eventually percolate down to local government, countless government boards and public corporations and commissions at all levels, Mack said.
In response to the furore over these gross excesses, all the Howard government has promised is "institutionalised" cross-checking of travel and accommodation claims. Mack's response is more direct: abolish perks and cut MPs' salaries.
Why, when governments and big business are preaching austerity and demanding cutbacks in government spending, is a blind eye turned to this runaway gravy train? In the view of Max Lane, a former research officer employed by the Senate and now foreign affairs spokesperson for the Democratic Socialists, the answer is simple: it gives MPs, regardless of their party or the social class of the people who elect them, a direct stake in the capitalist system.
"Once in parliament, the newly elected MPs are initiated into an exclusive and very comfortable club. All the privileges of this club serve one main purpose — to bring the club membership closer to the wealthy minority that controls the real power in this society, the owners of the big corporations", Lane told Green Left Weekly.
"How much is somebody who is able to spend $100,000 or more per year, with access to free first-class air travel and all the comfortable facilities of a $1.5 billion building, capable of identifying with the needs and aspirations of people on $15,000, $20,000, or $30,000 per year and who feel the pinch when bus and train fares are increased by even 50 cents?
"How far apart are the worlds of people with unlimited telephone expenses and those who have to face Telecom or Optus bills? How many people have a swimming pool, spa, tennis court and squash courts located for them in their place of work?"
The whole of the operation of parliament, Lane said, is aimed at keeping apart "representatives" and the allegedly represented.
"For senior members who last a few years, or make the level of committee chairperson or junior minister, the separation from the community is even more dramatic. If you have been receiving $120,000 plus for five or 10 years, very soon you have the capacity to make investments and buy shares or real estate. You might invest in a large-scale commercial piggery, like former PM Keating. You learn to like expensive Italian suits or antique clocks.
"As time goes on, there is more and more reason for such well-endowed members to feel that they have the same interests as other investors, other business people. 'What's good for business is good for everybody' becomes your natural way of thinking. When you leave office, corporations line up to appoint you to lucrative directorships because of the connections you have."
Lane said that lurks and perks "are tolerated, even encouraged — as long as they stay secret — to ensure the parliamentary consensus, which says that the economic, social and political system we live under is the best there is. Money and privilege tend to extinguish the fire of those who may, at first, have been critical of the system but find they cannot live without the luxuries and lifestyle it bestows upon them."