A couple of points.
First, Parliament is about policy. We have a permanent public service to actually implement that policy.
Therefore comparing politicians to executives or CEOs is quite wrong. They should more accurately be compared to 'members of the board of directors'. Public service heads should be compared to execs.
By putting them on the same side of the fence as the executives, we clearly lose empathy for the 'shareholders'. This at the same time as actual shareholders of many large corporations are wondering why they pay their execs so much, particularly paying bonuses even when prices fall.
But most important is the fundamental difference between the Public/Private sector; the “Botany Bay” problem. In the private sector when things get rough there are always 2 clear solutions: increase productivity or cut costs. Almost always, the latter is the easier, and an Al Dunlap is brought in the cut out the deadwood.
It could be said the Nation of Australia was formed by the deadwood of merry old England.
We don't have that luxury (although it isn't impossible). We can't just sack half our workforce and write them off the books to make us 'leaner, meaner and more competitive'. We need far more innovative solutions. We need to think out of the box.
Our current crop of politicians, and the process that creates them are very much inside the box.

Neatly put, Grim.

>>...comparing politicians to executives or CEOs is quite wrong. They should more accurately be compared to 'members of the board of directors'<<

This error is a direct result of their having no business experience, and being therefore unable to differentiate between policy decisions, and executive decisions.

They believe themselves empowered to involve themselves in the process, which they don't fully understand. And also for which they don't possess the appropriate skills, thereby creating massive amounts of waste.

Sometimes, it is a miracle that anything at all is accomplished.

And sometimes, nothing IS accomplished. We have been waiting for a unified public transport ticketing system in NSW for well over a decade. Sources tell me that this is the direct result of politicians getting involved in the detail of implementation, as opposed to policy direction and oversight.

daniel: spinspun underlines the misunderstanding

>>Further, to argue that paying a high salary somehow corrupts the office by enticing financially motivated executives, rather than those with an innate desire to serve the greater good, is short-sighted<<

"Enticing financially motivated executives" does not necessarily corrupt the office, but nor is it the solution. The public service is the executive. Drawing politicians from the executive class is having a dog and barking yourself.

We need people who understand the responsibilities associated with policy-setting. We need them to be able to establish the parameters of those policies in the form of direction and goal-setting. And we need them to be able to articulate those goals to the public in their election campaigns.

Then, we-the-electorate hold them to their commitments.

Pericles - agreed up to a point. Politicians lack the business experience to implement - leave that to the public service...All in favour of a model that sees politicians and members of the board with a general role of directing policy and leaving implementation to the employees.
The one weakness in this model is highlighted by the insulation scheme.
Conceptually it was a good scheme but its implementation was flawed. I did not study the reasons for that - was it because of undue interference by the minister? Was it because unrealistic targets were being set? Or was it because the public service did not have the skills to ensure that the installation tender process weeded out the cowboys?

http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=12725#219892
http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=12725#219902
http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=12725#219911
http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=12725#219915
http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=12725#219916

diver dan, King Hazza, Grim, Pericles & BAYGON, the REAL issue some of us have been hinting at, but skirting around is ACCOUNTABILITY.

it does not matter how much or how little any of them is being paid, if they are not ACCOUNTABLE.

electoral reform is needed to bring accountability back into politics.

Nailing them to their election promises is a good idea, no pay or public election funding from AEC until their promises are enacted.

PS, forgot the other idea i have believed in for ages.

Reducing the number of politicians, not by simply halving the number of federal pollies, but abolishing 1 of our 3 levels of government, or even 2 of them.

ALL 3 levels could be merged together, so that we have only 1 local member in a much smaller electorate, responsible for everything in their electorate, that is currently split 3 ways.

Election promises can only be enacted if a sociable opposition is in place. We operate on the westminster system of govt; and cannot be pushed around. The solution is a republic, and then we don't have to go by Englands rules. Do we want a republic may be a referendum at the next election.