I’m open to looking at “gardening leave” for ex-MPs if it gives the parliament something we can do with rule-breakers. It’s a carrot and a stick. Right now we‘ve got neither. There’s no reward for following the rules and no penalties for breaking them. No wonder they’re useless.
Of course we can just keep insisting people follow the rules and keep getting shocked when they don’t. But what we’re doing isn’t working. Once we stop paying them, we lose any power over them. And they’re running riot.
A temporary payment for ex-MPs who are subject to a cooling off period would give them skin in the game to actually do the right thing. If they break the rules, they refund the money, and pay a financial penalty like one year’s salary. Tell you what, that’d scare them.
It’d cost a bit of money and I don’t think they should be entitled to it frankly. But it’s a hell of a lot cheaper than a parliamentary pension for life and it’s an investment in actual transparency and integrity that I reckon should be valued much higher than we do right now.
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So much flat out spin and bloody-minded cynicism in Christian Porter’s comments in this article, I’m staggered anybody would put their name to it, let alone a minister. Won’t all fit in one tweet (shocker) so here’s a few: theaustralian.com.au/nation/politic…
“Dr Bernadette Boss was appointed on an interim basis to allow for her to be ready to commence her inquiries immediately once the legislation was passed.”
Mate, your own gov’s evidence in Senate Estimates said her work has commenced already, and DIDN’T NEED THE LEGISLATION.
“Most importantly, he said, the office of the national commissioner would be a permanent, ongoing body, which, he insisted, “in effect makes it stronger than a royal commission”.”
You’d think he knows he can fire the Commissioner whenever he wants? How’s that permanent?
I had so much feedback, and it took me ages to work through it, but here’s what I’m doing on the immigration detention phone ban bill. lambienetwork.com.au/surveyresults
Here’s a thread as well:
Don't give the government the power to do something you don't want them to do. It's as simple as that.
I'm not comfortable banning the phones of people who aren't doing anything wrong with them. Most of the people in immigration detention came to Australia legally. They're stuck in detention because they don't have a visa anymore.
Hundreds of people at AAP have jobs because of this. That’s huge! Hundreds of regional papers who rely on AAP content to keep their audiences informed - they’re staying alive too. Papers like my locals, @theadvocatetas & @ExaminerOnline.
But you know, the ones I’m most relieved for? They’re the ones who read, listen and watch AAP stories every day, and never even know they’re made by a small team working day in, day out, to keep Australians informed, no matter where you are.
They bring the world to Burnie, and they don’t ask for credit, praise or recognition. They just do it, and I’m so bloody grateful they can keep doing it. That’s thanks to this $5m lifeline.
I’ve sat eyeball to eyeball with John Setka and asked him what he’d prefer – the government's IR laws, or his leadership. Because if he can live with these laws, then so can I. smh.com.au/politics/feder…
John Setka is doing more harm to the union movement than any law could do. If you want an electable ALP you should want him gone. If you want a strong union movement you should want him gone. Members, leaders, politicians want him gone.
So if one union official can overrule everybody else and fail to put the interests of the movement above his own, and nobody can stop him, then we need laws to compel him to leave. He's a billboard for the problem.