No, it’s not a rhetorical question, but as the news the other day reported that ours have just voted themselves another 4% on top of their already considerable salaries, we have to ask; just how much are they worth? We are in the run up to a federal election so the news is full of silly stories trying to denigrate one side or the other. An amusing recent example was an “investigation” into the thousands the Prime Minister had spent having the inside of his personal, RAAF provided, jet papered with silk wallpaper. The often stated reason for paying politicians the very high salaries compared with the average wage is so that we attract and retain the ”right sort of people”. The reasoning goes that if we pay them less then they will leave politics and earn vast sums in business or the law. I then ask, are those the sort of people we want running the country? The people who apparently make good businessmen and lawyers are those that follow a single goal, put profits and their view above all other and don’t care about who get trampled upon to achieve those goals. Wouldn”t the country actually be a better place if we were ruled / governed by more altruistic people, people who would be willing to consider all sides of an argument, to listen to what their constituents wanted and then fought for governance in a way that provided the best possible outcome for the most number of people whilst protecting the weak, poor and sick. People who would want to be taking a fair wage, comparable to those who’’s views they represented, that realised that they were just Public Servants and not above the proletariat.
Well perhaps the question should be updated to “How much is an ex-politician worth? Last weeks’ Sunday paper contained a story that John Howard, had, in his first year in retirement, cost the tax-payer $1.4 MILLION!! I’m sure that is very comforting to the country’s pensioners who are struggling to make ends meet.
Hi! I was surfing and found your blog post… nice! I love your blog.
Cheers! Sandra. R.