We have some of the world's most highly-paid politicians and yet we still get monkeys.
As Australians struggle to balance household budgets and pay off debt, the government could demonstrate it will live within its means by taking a salary cut. A proposal to reduce politicians’ salaries would send a clear message that the government believes the business of austerity is everyone’s business.
And while they're at it, they could reduce their retiring colleagues' life-long perks and fancy supers; indeed, why not reduce the number of federal, state and local politicians altogether? For a country with fewer than 25 million people, we are vastly overgoverned.
Take Canberra. Here we have a territory with a population less than one third of that of London and we have a separate government. Why not a Lord Mayor and City council? Carry this across all states and territories and you will get the drift. Federation was great in 1901 but has now passed its use-by date. All we need to do is retain the State boundaries but dispense with all state parliaments and divide the country in so many federal electorates.
But could you ever imagine any of our governing or opposition MPs utter the word 'austerity' when it comes to their own 'entitlements'?
