@ remunerations of $250,000pa plus, taxpayers would like to see some return for their money.

The antics in the federal Parliament are an insult to the hardworking men and women who are the exasperated taxpayers who must pay for that juvenile behaviour.

It is not true is it, that higher pay for politicians results in improved performance.

The position of parliamentary speaker has been compromised spectacularly with a $65 / km junket on a mates chopper.
She will be held to account by public opinion. The worst act of pigery we have ever seen.

doog,

Julia Gillard lived high on the hog, especially where international travel was concerned.

Maybe you and some others here are not taxpayers. Otherwise you and they would be more concerned about paying so much for so many members of parliament, only to have the money wasted on shabby antics and time-wasting.

As it stands, few of them would survive five days in the private sector.

Of course, while the tabloid media dumbs you out, what else might be expected? The ABC is doing its best (worst!) to earn its gathering reputation for being trite, sensationalist and tabloid.

Go for it, otb - I think you'll be battling to scratch around for someone to top Bronnie's taxpayer- funded decadence.

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/bronwyn-bishop-slugs-taxpayers-1000-a-day-for-private-limo-costs-20150718-gifasi.html

Fairfax Media can reveal the Speaker racked up a $14,000 limo bill in a little over a fortnight during her European trip in October.

On the same trip, Mrs Bishop's four fellow delegates spent between $1200 and $2800 each on ground transport. They typically travelled by public transport or in more modest embassy-arranged cars.

"There was a black BMW carting her around like royalty," said a source involved with the trip. "She wasn't about to take her eight-inch heels on the subway."

"Mrs Bishop and her staff also spent $42,000 on flights and $25,000 on meals and accommodation. The other parliamentarians – the Coalition's Nola Marino and Cory Bernardi and Labor's Glenn Sterle and Tony Zappia – each spent a fraction of those amounts.

The trip was partly aimed at securing Mrs Bishop a plum new job. She was running for president of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, a democracy group based in Switzerland. She lost the vote to Bangladesh's candidate."

Good old Bangladesh done Australia, not surprising on the quality of our applicant. Even the Swiss need something to look at.

Snorters at the trough. It be good to see some of that parliamentary privilege be left over, handed back and donated to a charity.

LOL, what with Julia Gillard, Quentin Bryce and now Bronwyn Bishop the women have set a very high bar for any who follow that is for sure. That is in how to live high on the hog.

However the rules such as they are and the measures, the necessarily subjective and flexible yard-sticks, are set by the politicians, who say that they are answerable in the House and ultimately, to the people.

Of course where Australia's first female PM saw herself as deserving pay higher than O'bummer, President of the USofA and the British PM, it is only to be expected that she and other pollies too might regard themselves as worthy of a limo and a flight or few.

Leaving all of that to one side, I don't particularly care who it is, private sector CEO or politician, they can all fall prey to the syndrome where they believe in their own importance and may even regard the organisation's or government's assets as their own. Not implying any of that in respect of the Speaker, where the result of the Labor inspired AFP investigation must be awaited.

Also, most taxpayers, shareholders too, don't really mind if their leaders gain some status benefits to make up for their exhausting, demanding roles that leave little room for a personal life.

They (taxpayers and shareholders) want to see some productivity and quality in return and the politicians who would criticise the Speaker haven't exactly been so helpful in maintaining order, productivity and efficiency in the House either.

Taking Shorten and Labor as the example, they have shown no interest whatsoever in the problems of Struggle-town (ABC), but they are long on same sex marriage and playing the fool in the Parliament. That represents no return whatsoever for the $250,000+pa each gets paid, let alone their other personal overheads (that they aren't talking about).