It always fascinates me the way everyone complains about high taxation in one breath and then suggests more money be spent on a multitude of things depending on their own priority. It has to be a compromise and you can't please all the people all the time.

If you tax the very rich at a substantially higher rate, the relatively small number would produce an equally small amount of increased revenue. They would then travel to other parts of the world to get what they feel they are worth...........Think doctors scientists, entrepreneurs and even sports people, and we don't like that do we ? We complain about politicians earning high salaries with the superannuation perks that go with the job, but there aren't many professions that require a mandate from the populous every 3 years in order to keep a job. Besides, most of them could earn a good deal more outside parliament than in.

We live in a society of envy and it can be seen in the way celebrities are worshipped, but for some reason they are never criticised for their obscene incomes. They go where they get paid the most, like most of us. I am not saying that there are some that earn vast amounts and that they don't justify their salaries, but you can never get total equality and while reasonable efforts should be made to have a degree of fairness. It will never be possible to have that level playing field

This article first appeared on the day after the NSW Teacher unions settled their pay dispute with the NSW government. the teachers settled for less pay and eroded conditions.

A contributor to another blog suggested that parliamentarians pay should be pegged to the average female wage then they would be committed to the welfare of 52% of the people they represent. [parliamentary salary levels have no effect on the quality of our representatives]

I worry that a person with such a prestigious string of letters after his name does not now the difference between a peer ( one of the aristocracy that he is complaining about) and a pier ( where one is in the water waiting for a rope)