So here we are, bracing ourselves for the possible outcomes of Copenhagen and the possible financial impositions this may cause, only to find that our leader is planning an entourage of not less than 100, including a 'personal hairdresser' and his very own 'pastry chef'.

You're kidding Mr Rudd. You expect us to respect your requests and cut our emissions and pay dearly for it, while you continue to treat your job as an excuse to live the high life wherever you go.

What ever happened to the old saying, ‘lead by example’!

Dear Rehctub,

You ask, "Whatever happened to lead by example?"

Well, might you ask...
The precedent has already been set by former PM's.

For example, According to Freedom of Information
obtained by the Sunday Herald Sun - the former
PM - john Howard is costing the taxpayer more
in retirement than he did running the country.

Howard received a salary of $330,000 as PM.

In retirement, during a year he cost the taxpayer
$1.04 million.

He spent $416,952 - fitting out the office in Martin
Place, including $2510 on furniture.

Taxpayers paid for $1180 TV & video system.
$3622 worth of office equipment and $6082 for newspapers
and periodicals.

$7739 for mobile phone bills.
$1432 for calls from a home phone.
$1834 on office calls.
$4300 on office security.

Australia's five living former PM's submitted expenses
totalling $3 million a year.

Mr Howard was by far the biggest spender.

A hairdresser and pastry chef and an entourage of 100
in Copenhagen as you claim (actually its only 42),
is peanuts for a working PM in comparison to what
one particular one is spending in retirement.

You can't put a saddle on a pig and call it a horse!

Dear Foxy,

Thank you for the information.

Even though one realizes that these ex-polies have their snouts firmly entrenched in the public trough, it is always galling to see it itemised - although enlightening at the same time.

How illuminating to see George Dubya's "little buddy" perpetuating his odium even though he's out of office.

Rechtub you bring a grin to me so very often.
Some times I am not truly sure if I am laughing with you or at you.
The latter seems more likely.
How very strange, the thought our leaders hair or taste in food undermines his views on Global warming.
Or indeed that any leaders habits and travel are in any way different.
How truly laughable! that in trying to be little Rudd, trying to avoid the polls, the publics view of him, you publicly put your name to such an uninformed post.
Revel rechtub in your new leader, new right directions, new hope, but know without doubt it is in truth new hopelessness.
A new deeper hole for conservatives to battle in, to find a way to bury the dead beast that is half the conservatives views on climate change.
Not a good time to throw stones glass houses and all that.
Thanks however for the belly laughter.

Yes well, my info came from a news article, but, why do we always have to refer to the past rather than the present.

At no time did I say Rudd is spending more than the previous leaders, however, he is the one leading the charge for us to cut emissions.

By the way, JH did lead by example in such that I recall he froze wages, including MP's for a time while we recovered from the recession we had to have.

Also, considering the mess JH inherited from Paul Keating and, considering the shape he left us in with money in the bank and record employment, if anyone deserves to be rewarded, regardless of which side they are on, it is he.

BTW, Bob was also a favourite PM of mine. Sides don't matter to me, or at least not until labor killed small business with IR.

And belly. The real frightening issue with Krudd is that the only way he will loose the next election is if he performs so badly that the voters dump him. Now that's grounds for us to worry hey!

You all have that 'backed into a corner' response about you, don't you. But then, I expected nothing less.

rehctub: "The real frightening issue with Krudd is that the only way he will loose the next election is if he performs so badly that the voters dump him."

I don't think Rudd is the sort of guy who makes big mistakes, so he won't loose an election that way. Anyway, I find Rudd tolerable. But then I found Howard tolerable for most of his tenure too. The reason in both cases is the senate knocks off the worst of the excesses. My worry is the Mad Monk will give Rudd control of the senate.

You are always better off when there is a strong opposition.

I must say that the inclusion of a hairdresser and a pastrycook in Rudd's entourage seems just a tad profligate. Not exactly a good example.

Rehctub
If what you say is true, I think CJ is understating the case some what.

However, regarding JH , I suggest you look a bit closer at what he cost The tax payer by living in Sydney and commuting to Canberra. I Remember the cost being over a $1 million per year, extra staff with butlers etc, maintaining two houses, and then there was the umpteen million for an extra stair case in Kirrabili.
JH is a woeful yard stick.

NB. That doesn't excuse a personal hairdresser and *pastry cook* though.

It's amazing what worries people aint it. There is a mentality of the govt; being able to fix every thing for them.
Do a little for your self, and every thing will be okydoke
Is it really worth noting the pm's onterage has a hair dresser on board,
I bet he is the shoe shine boy as well.
This is supposed to be a civalized country.
You allow trivial things to dominate your sense of direction.
Pull your self together and work for the country and not against it.

Far far from backed into a corner rechtub.
Can you truly think that? how uninformed.
Now I have no truck with butlers and hair dressers.
But think honestly , Rudd,[you are brave believing newspaper reports] would not be alone in being well looked after.
USA no doubt sent many more.
You insist on that child like Krudd stuff but know at some level your view is not near a majority one.
And looking back on my posts, even before Turnbull, I claimed victory for Labor, with an increased majority.
Back your self rechtub, put your predictions in Australian politics for 2010 in print.
Mine are
we will have an election of both houses.
Abbott will not be leader Christmas 2010
Greens in spotlight during election campaign not for being green but for not voting for Any ETS.
Conservative internal war to break out within a week of election loss, it will be bloody and have long reaching affects.

Because rehctub asked the question
"What happened to lead by example?"
And because he also thinks we shouldn't
dwell on the past - that - we should concentrate
on the present... I strongly recommend the
following website:

http://newmatilda.com/2009/12/03/abbott-reason-season
"Tony Abbott Is The Reason For The Season."
by Ben Pobjie.
3 Dec. 2009

It answers a multitude of questions.

Foxy,
Johnny's expenses are outrageous just as are those of ALL former PM's. Come to think of outrageous too are the expenses incurred by heads of Govt Departments, Public Servants & Judges. There simply is no justification for this deplorable state of affairs. Are you aware how much is wasted by utterly incompetent & corrupt bureaucrats ? Do you know how it's done ? They make sure that the masses remain mindless & keep voting for them. Every third blue moon an independent politician who speaks everyday man's language succeeds in opening the masses' eyes and?, the media gets engaged to malign that person & BINGO! the major parties are back in business. The Pollies are happy, the masses think they're happy & the rort continues.

individual,

Don't get your knickers too far in a knot. Earlier in the term we were criticising Rudd for working his staff so hard they were leaving in droves. Now we are apparently criticising him for pampering them too much. We all have short memories I guess.

Desmond is right. On the scale of things this is an insignificant issue, for Howard, Rudd, Keating and Hawk. That have all done things I utterly detest. (You might rightly guess from this I am still reeling from Conroy's announcement earlier today that they plan to proceed with mandatory internet filtering. With MM leading the opposition it might just happen.) While agreeing they are absolutely atrocious, almost the worst imaginable, there have been a few that are even worse. In fact fiscally and in most other ways, they seem to have done a better job than say Bush, Brown, Blair and most of the other governments in the free world and all of the governments in the non-free one.

Seriously, when it is all said and done, in the last couple of decades our pollies have served us very well indeed. Provided they continue in that vein I am personally willing to forgive them spending a few grand to ensure they are well fed and look their best during a week of hard bartering in Copenhagen. And it will be a hard week. Too much food, too much booze, too much late night reading and far too little sleep while recovering from jet lag. And all while under enormous pressure to deliver the result in an environment they have very little control over. Good luck to them.

For me the fact that they spent $850 per night for accomodation and $51 for soup is very refreshing. I plan a great christmas with a big fat carbon footprint - no atoms spared

To Belly and cohorts,
If we follow the example of our leaders which is a much truer position of the state of their heart, with John Howard we would have all been fiscaly responsible and paid down our debt. If we follow Kevin Rudds example we would all be seasoned travelers using debt to fund our extravences.

So let me get this right Foxy. What you seem to be implying, is
that if little Johnnie, who did around 10 years as PM, spends
money on new furniture etc, that is a crime, but if your Kevie
pees money up against walls, that is ok then.

You are hardly biased are you? :)

Richie ten you do your non existent God no service in matching Minchin denials.
From your extreme Christian view point you seem to be say, indeed are, that if Johny short bottom had been in control, ok his wife, we would not have had the GFC.
Yabby, come in terms of dollars spent and averaged out at those days rates it would be generations of our leaders who spent big on our tax's.
It is a beat up, we hardly want our leaders to sleep in the park and eat out of a sugar bag.
Security alone demands leaders not stay in the corner motel.
Remember this story came from an Australian news paper, desperate to sell papers they long ago became comic books.

The whole point is that they are attending a crisis summit on global warming and how best to reduce emmissions without breaking the backs of our ecconomies.

Now how can a Pm expect his citizins to 'cut back' when he shows little or no attempt to do so himself.

Did they all catch a bus to the venue, or, as I would expect, did they all have private cars, each of which would be large enough to carry at least 5 or 6 passangers. All fossil fuel burners.

This is not about your 'he said, she said' finger pointing grade five antics you lot carry on with. This is about our future and the future security of thousands of jobs as, you can be assurred that if running costs for small businesses increase much more, they will simply fold.

It dosn't matter what someone else did, that was then and this is now.

If Krudd is serious about climate change, then he must lead the way himself or others will simply ignore him and say, 'why should we, he doesn't!

And Belly, as for predicting the future. The outcome from Copenhagen will have a lot to do with this.

This is why Krudd backed away from his threat of a DD election. Because inside he really wants to see what the rest of the world is doing. His failed ETS may well backfire on him but we will wait and see.

You obviously remember Ted Mack too, individual.

>>Every third blue moon an independent politician who speaks everyday man's language succeeds in opening the masses' eyes and?, the media gets engaged to malign that person & BINGO! the major parties are back in business.<<

When Ted was Mayor of North Sydney, he sold the mayoral Mercedes and bought community buses with the proceeds. He used his own car to get around in (which was actually a really neat 1951 Citroen Light 15, so was particularly visible) and turned the Council into an open, responsive instrument for locals.

North Sydney residents then elected him to State Parliament, from which he resigned, voluntarily and pointedly, two days before being eligible for a million dollar pension.

When he then put himself up as an Independent for the Federal seat of North Sydney he was a shoo-in, and they eventually had to redistribute the boundaries to get rid of him.

He sent back his gold travel card, and never took an overseas trip at taxpayers' expense.

No wonder the snout-in-the-trough brigade couldn't stand him. He represented what would have been their ethical standards, or perhaps their consciences, if they had had any inkling of what those words meant.

Regrettably, the concept of politicians having the interests of their constituents, rather than their own fat wallets and chauffered cars, closest to their heart, is as old-fashioned and foreign a notion as Ted's car.

Which, sadly, and somehow symbolically, he had to sell recently.

no Belly,
that is not what I am saying at all. Actions speak louder than words.
Watch What people do not what they say they do. For it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles you not what you eat. Toilet functions are part of life. J H sold the farm and paid the mortgage. K R has no farm to mortgage because J H sold it so he mortgaged our childrens future.

We could make significant savings on emissions by cutting Rudd's travel.

Not having to listen to his vacuous long winding speeches would be an added bonus.

Well Folks, if you don't like what
you're currently getting you can
always change it come election time.

Just imagine how progressive Australia
will be with Abbott, Bishop, Barnaby,
Andrews, et al in charge.

You'll be able to get rid of the Stimulus
Package programs, and jobs, the economy
will go down the gurgler, unfair dismissal
laws can be rebuked, you don't have to do
anything about pollution, health, education,
aged care, get rid of medicare, don't allow
any more migrants into the country - certainly
not the "wrong kind" at any rate, and let Big
Business do whatever it wants.

And what's more we'll really be taken
seriously on the International Scene.
Our reputation globally will sky-rocket.

Think of the money that can be saved?
Worth it?
You betcha!

No, Yabster, I'm not biased - just telling
it like it could be - if the naysayers have
their way!

Foxy,
you simply can't be serious ! Can you honestly, within your innermost conscience, not see what is happening to this country under Labor ?

individual - you can't be serious. Didn't you see what happened to Australia under Howard's regime?

I'm no great fan of Rudd, but at least I'm no longer embarrassed to be an Aussie. On second thoughts, I'm less embarrassed than I would undoubtedly be if it was the Mad Denialist Monk representing us at Copenhagen.

Cj Morgan,
All I noticed that under Howard the Keatinge blow-out was fixed but already the coffers are empty again & we got the GST which created a real economy which put money in the till not like this Stimulus farce which only benefits consultants & other hangers-on. Troops were sent to stop crap before it makes it to this soil. Imagine what could have been achieved if the loony left did not interfere & distract reasonable governance. Far too much effort & resources are required to counter this interference, effort & resource so badly needed for important matters. If you want to point the finger at little Johnny then please keep in mind that the majority of Public Servants are staunch Labor supporters who didn't perform in their positions & therefore miserably failed their employer, the australian tax payer who is not in receipt of such generous packages as themselves. Immoral hypocrites !