praxidice,
Clive comes across as a bloke with integrity & I for one will show my support for him when the time comes. I lost a large portion of my respect for Abbott when he went along with the latest pay rise at a time when we all struggle like crap. Clive doesn't seem to need the money so I think that makes him a bloke whose focus won't be distracted by lurks & perks.
I just hope like crap that he doesn't surround himself with failed in other parties characters too much. It'll be interesting to see his policy on Law reform which is probably the most talked about in our community due to so much crime permitted under Labor.

Pelican, I can see where you are coming from, however I don't think the politicians are paid well enough, for the most part.

If they were, and these 'perks' you speak of are so great, then why aren't we getting a higher calibre of person wanting to be a politician ?
How often do we hear of politicians giving up the job to go into the private sector?

Maybe if the politicians were offered a similar pay as similar jobs in the private sector, then we would attract people that might not want or need to rort the system as much as they seem to do now?

As for Big CLive, I remain skeptical of his intentions also. He became rich by hard work or whatever, and who knows what changes he might make, given the opportunity, in order to feather his own nest?

Suseonline & individual

By and large, politicians have traditionally been seen as nothing more than self-serving grubs / bloodsucking parasites who are only there because they could never hold down a 'proper' job. Consider the number of failed lawyers / failed priests / union heavies. The vast majority of successful business folk wouldn't sully their good name by being associated with the major parties, or for that matter most of the smaller ones. The precious few with some business background who did enter the circus have had hidden agendas (remember the Undertaker), The reason we don't see politicians leaving to join the private sector is quite obviously because they are utterly incompetent, who in their right mind would employ, for instance, the dying duck ?? An inescapable feature of human nature is that 'power corrupts'. What we really need is a truly robust control mechanism established BEFORE giving anyone power.

I suggest that anyone intent on chucking rocks at Big Clive should go to the trouble of meeting the bloke in person. Personality wise he's best compared with Richard Branson. Many of the same key attributes apply, the same sense of adventure, the 'who gives a rats about money', and the same fired-up infectious enthusiasm for the task in hand. Unlike both the red-headed witch & the RAbbott, after shaking hands you don't feel the same compulsion to count your fingers to see if they are still all there. Despite being able to buy both the red-headed witch & the RAbbott fifty times over, Big Clive drives his own car everywhere he goes and doesn't consider he warrants a driver. All 39 or whatever is is candidates appointed to date are real world people, nary a lawyer, priest or union heavy in the lot.

Suseonline, "If they were, and these 'perks' you speak of are so great, then why aren't we getting a higher calibre of person wanting to be a politician?"

You forget the pre-selection practices. An easy example could be the Greens, whose preselection practices are secretive. Greens' policy forbids any public information relating to their nominations and the processes that turn up candidates like the feckless David Shoebridge in NSW or the highly contentious and random (to be polite) Lee Rhiannon (Brown).

The ACT Greens' recent grubby and spiteful tussle over preselection where Christine Milne attempted to parachute former GetUp! director Simon Sheikh in, is an example.

Suseonline: "How often do we hear of politicians giving up the job to go into the private sector?"

You mean like failed ex-Premier Anna Bligh ('I will serve my time in the Parliament if elected'. LOL), who was appointed to a Medibank Private board position by Federal Finance Minister Penny Wong. "Senator Wong’s spokeswoman said the agreed amount for Ms Bligh’s remuneration was confidential", but Anna would receive it on top of her existing super and benefits paid for by Queenslanders. It was reported that this was Anna's 'first' board position. More are expected presumably.

Or do you mean like the federal Labor Party's favoured advisors and politicians who are being lined up for plum jobs in the federal and State public agencies to reward themand keep them on ice?

Astounding that you believe that politicians are poorly paid when Julia Gillard voted herself bigger money than the US President and the UK Prime Minister. No mention of the much larger populations they govern.

Julia and her handbag hit squad have been quite concened while in office about furthering affirmative action to force more women onto the boards of private companies. Don't tell me there aren't enough appointments to public agencies to go around. Some would call that feathering their nests for the future.

then why aren't we getting a higher calibre of person wanting to be a politician ?
Suseonline,
Because the low calibre ones vastly outnumber integrity bearers. Why do you think they're never changing the public service head honchos ? They're the rails of the gravy train.

individual - Why do you think they're never changing the public service head honchos ? They're the rails of the gravy train.

It backfired badly with General Disaster. The clown thought he was smart with his attack on the public service but he neglected to get rid of all the ALP drones and now they are practicing voodoo on him :)