Our elected politicians are elected to represent:
Us the people of Australia
Each individual politician is elected to represent:
The people in there electorate
The region that they stand for
Our elected politicians should lead by example.
Below is a letter I have sent via email to 3 senators and the youngest federal politician.
Senator Nick Xenophon
Senator Ricky Muir
Senator Jackie Lambie
Wyatt Roy MP
The original email was sent on 15th February 2016 to which I received not one reply. I re-sent the emails on 9th March 2016 and promptly received a reply from a staffer in Senator Nick Xenophon's office, but not specifically replying to the issues in the original email.
This is the email I sent
I am writing to you with my view and to some extent a larger
proportion of the Australian population about our current government, I would
appreciate your position and feedback relating to my questions and suggestions.
Our government needs to change the way it works and thinks
before our country goes down the gurgler. When we go down the gurgler it can
only be said that our leaders led by example – they are wholly to blame for our
problems and a proportion of this is based on a 2 party preferred system.
We need independents to keep the two major parties and their
members honest, the two major party’s DO NOT led by example.
Christopher Pyne suggests that independents destabilize the
senate process – it’s the opposite, if we had a 2 party senate, things would
get through the system to suit the parties not the people. Independents make
the 2 party preferred elected politicians have to think and work to make their
policy happen, negotiating across a greater spectrum of our community through
the independents.
If Julie Bishop led by example she would manage her diary
better and not manufacture an unavoidable need to travel on the government
ministerial jet, when travelling commercially could have been achieved. This
could have saved our country $30,000. In the scheme of things this is small. If
every politician treated there expenditure as if it were their own business
this $30,000 would turn into millions of dollars of savings for our country.
But they don’t, it’s not their money so they spend it freely and try to make
sure it fits within the so called “guidelines” which are written in the colour
grey for their benefit.
On 2 August 2015, the Government announced a fundamental
review into the parliamentary entitlements system. Sounds too good to be true,
I believe it is! The Government engaged Mr David Tune, former Secretary of the
Department of Finance (long term bureaucrat), Mr John Conde, President of the
Remuneration Tribunal (long term associate of politicians and old style company
director) Mr Harry Jenkins (long term politician and bureaucrat) The Hon Dr
Brendan Nelson (long term politician and bureaucrat). Ms Linda Nicholls seems to be the only truly
independent thinking member of this committee. So we should expect very little
will get done or achieved based on the imbalance of this so called independent
group of thinkers. 4 out of 5 will think and vote in favour of keeping our
politicians happy and padded with all there entitlements.
To lead by example: Some federal entitlements should be
abolished completely and others amended. The first entitlement that should be
abolished is the “family travel benefit” were politician’s family members can
fly business class around the country at no cost to themselves – paid by the
taxpayer! How many private companies can afford this? There are many other job
roles that require travel away from home for extended periods of time so being
a politician does not uniquely have this work related issue. If they want
family with them they should pay, not the taxpayer.
Secondly the politicians travel allowance should be
reformed, a charge per use arrangement should be put in place, a maximum allowance
is in place per location and this will be reimbursed monthly or quarterly. If a
parliamentarian or government official chooses to stay privately in a property
owned by themselves, family member or any known associate or family friend then
an allowance will not be paid. This is the normal practice in the private
sector in Australia. A politician who travels to Canberra and does not stay in
a commercial property still receives a payment, this should be abolished.
Then there is the recent ridiculous ruling by Administrative
Appeals Tribunal and Executive Deputy President Gary Humphries (another defunct
politician and career public servant) which will cost our country dearly. Gary
Humphries has been in politics for long enough he is guaranteed a plush
position in the public service for as long as he desires and he doesn’t have to
be good at what he does, he just has to attend.
This is what he did to our country:
Australian Federal Police administrator Sandra Carney won
her legal battle for workers compensation for mental harm arising from a minor
workplace disagreement over a workflow chart at the AFP’s Canberra headquarters
two years ago.
Ms Carney, who has a history of workplace conflict and of
lodging claims against federal workplace insurer Comcare going back 20 years,
successfully appealed the insurer’s refusal to pay out her claim for
“adjustment disorder”
Successful Comcare claimants are entitled to be paid their
full salaries for their first 45 weeks off work and 75 per cent of their
salary, plus medical and pharmacological expenses, until they either return to
work or reach retirement age.
Back to common sense and responsibility, if you cannot deal
with the responsibilities of your job either you find another job or your
employer has the right to work through repositioning with you and if this
fails, terminating your employment.
We the people of Australia should not be made to pay for
this person’s addiction to compensation. Weak people like Gary Humphries should
be ashamed of themselves for crippling our country with weak decisions.
I am just one person who wants to see our government system
both state and federal, become trustworthy and honest not weak and insipid.
There are much bigger issues that need attention with our country but first our
politicians must lead by example. A bipartisan approach on rectifying these few
issues by the two major parties would go a long way in moving forward. A vote
by all politicians to rectify these few issues would show that they are not all
about themselves and their political careers but they have an interest in our
country and our people and they can lead by example.
If you were asked would you:
Abolish the ‘family travel benefit’
Amend the ‘travel allowance’ to remove all payments if
commercial accommodation is not used
Rewrite the senators and members entitlement handbook
removing all grey areas as common sense cannot be guaranteed when making
decisions. Politicians must pay for all there expenditure and then get it
reimbursed after review by a non-government body specializing in private
enterprise and small business cash management.
Make the Administrative Appeals Tribunal & Remuneration
Tribunal panels include a minimum of 50% of the committees/boards/decision
makers come from the private sector.
Rework the workplace laws and the people that administer it
so that compensation addiction is not achievable and repositioning employees is
achievable.
Thank you for your time and I look forward to your reply.
