All governments do it but in no way that validates what is done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m refering to government \u201cgifts\u201d of public sector appointments, all at generous salaries, paid for by the taxpayer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before I go on, consider this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The average Australian income, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics is less than $70,000 a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Keep that figure in mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yesterday, the Morrison Government handed out the \u201cgifts\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A bloke who lost his job in the last Western Australian election gets to become Deputy President of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal \u2013 $496,560 a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Others were appointed as \u201csenior members\u201d on about $330,000 a year, including the talented Pru Goward and the Prime Minister\u2019s former Chief of Staff, Ann Duffield<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Others, government staffers, no less, and another former MP will not be \u201csenior members\u201d but \u201cnew members\u201d; they will still get between $193,990 and $249,420.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Remember, many of those paying for all of this are on less than $70,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The former Victorian Premier, Denis Napthine, got a gig to Chair the National Disability Insurance Agency Board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Big money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The former Turnbull Cabinet Minister, John McVeigh, has been given, cop this, Chair of the Modernising Murray River Systems technical panel, whatever the hell that is, when everything that governments do in relation to the Murray River has been a complete stuff up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Don Harwin, a very undistinguished member of the Berejiklian Government, gets a gig on the Australia Council Board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Morrison Government leaves itself open to legitimate criticism but the same thing happened under Labor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A senior Labor figure once said to me, \u201cAlan, they will get rid of us in the end but it won\u2019t matter. We will have all our people in the right places.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nonetheless, the Opposition\u2019s Legal Affairs Spokesperson, the oleaginous Mark Dreyfus, said the total of Liberal \u201cmates\u201d placed in lucrative Appeals Tribunal gigs since 2013 totals 85.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And that is before you add in every other gig on offer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The independent South Australian Senator, Rex Patrick, said, \u201cWe are seeing what happens just before every election. A Government returning favours and appointing mates to taxpayer funded positions \u2013 experience and know-how be damned\u2026 you can almost set your watch by these pre-caretaker announcements.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A few points should be made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first is the obscenity of the salaries when compared to the plight of the average worker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The second is, most of these statuatory authorities you have never heard of; you have no idea what purpose they achieve; and they should be ditched, especially when the nation is running up a trillion dollar debt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the third point is, it is no use blaming the Morrison Government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Governments are all tarred with the same brush and that brush spreads waste and extravagance everywhere. No wonder neither of the two major political parties can command more than a third of the electorate\u2019s support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In other words, almost two-thirds don\u2019t want the Liberals and almost two-thirds don\u2019t want Labor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The reason is simple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The voter is sick of these sorts of insults.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
People with limited qualifications get a job as a result of political patronage and it pays them more than five times what the average worker pulls in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As I have said, from my perspective, the only word that applies to all of this is \u201cobscene\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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