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Parliamentary Entitlements

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Letter to the Editor: Parliamentary entitlements

To the Editor,
I wish to raise my concerns about a totally scandalous issue concerning conniving politicians threatening to rip-off Australian taxpayers of millions of dollars annually by disgracefully misusing the parliamentary entitlements system.

It is time for an independent review into the entitlements system and changes to it to make the entitlements within the public expectations. How much better would Australia be if millions of dollars spent on MPs every year instead went towards areas of Health, Education, Security, Defence and Unemployment?

On top of a very handsome salary, Members of Parliaments have many more extravagant entitlements. Parliamentarians receive an annual electoral …show more content…

Retirement entitlements for former parliamentarians is another controversial flaw concerning the entitlements system. Former backbencher MPs can receive an annual pension of $100,000 compared to the Australian average annual pension of $20,000. Former MPs who have either served as a backbencher for 20 years, a cabinet minister for 6 years or the Prime Minister for 1 year can apply for the Life Gold Pass of free business and first-class airline travel within Australia. It is absolutely inexcusable and unjustifiable that taxpayers are paying for the personal business class flights of former parliamentarians. MPs who have lost their seat in an election can also claim a resettlement …show more content…

There is a need for a review of the entitlements system of Members of Parliament. There needs to be an independent review into the extravagant and full-of-flaw entitlements system. Members of Parliament should not abuse their privilege as the representatives and servants of the Australian people in the Australian Parliament. The review must suggest and try to enforce changes to the system such as: reducing the salary of parliamentarians, reducing the extravagance of entitlements in general to be within the public expectations, limiting the number of flights MPs are entitled to and downgrade the flights to economy class, making changes in other areas of travel expenses, reducing the pension of former MPs to an acceptable level, and scrapping the Life Gold Pass. The politicians who have misused the entitlement system and ripped off Australian taxpayers of millions of dollars must be prosecuted and punished in the manner appropriate for fraudsters. It is imperative that the public support this cause for this to be achieved. There needs to be

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