A few months back we were discussing Bronwyn Bishops helicopter rides and I commented that if politicians make the laws for us then we should make the laws for them.

I pointed out that if we did not do something to fix the system and make politicians accountable then the next time it happened would be our own fault.

I also made a point of saying we need to build a prison just for the politicians to show them we mean business.

Well nobody paid much attention and today I read an article where Scott Morrison just wasted 55 million dollars on 4 refugees, (thats right FOUR) they're not even Australians, and one of them actually just decided to go home to Myanmar instead, because he was remorseful when he couldn't settle in Australia.

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/first-failure-of-australias-55-million-cambodia-refugee-plan-20151016-gkb42q.html

There's 55 million dollars down the drain, and these foreigners are living in a foreign country in a house better than mine and our government is paying for it.
How much taxpayer money are they wasting just to win a few political points?
55 million dollars could've built quite a nice little private prison for the pollies.
If we had've built it, maybe the idiots would've thought twice before wasting all that money.

The question I ask is the same as I put forward months ago.

- Is this our fault for doing nothing?

It is expensive correcting Rudd's ill-conceived overturning of Howard's 'Pacific Solution', isn't it? Nothing like the cost of continuing the debacle prior to Abbott's gutsy changes to stop the boats.

Just remembering what was,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0MHRSFz6FM

If you really want to be sat back in your seat, check some of the admitted costs of 'saving the world' by taking those so-called Syrian so-called asylum seekers, who are now understood to be Muslims as a result of the Muslim tail swinging the government dog. From a recent comment on The Box, the necessary ratio is ten helping professionals (all paid by the taxpayer) to one 'asylum seeker' when they step onto Oz soil. Work that one out.

How in the hell Australia ends up with the responsibility to conduct economic migrants rescues on the other side of the world, goodness only knows, but put it all down to the moral BS artists in Canberra and in the media. Doubtless the State and local governments that end up being responsible for the infrastructure and so on are not amused. States are never asked either, the feds just presume and go ahead.

Any wonder there are more taxes and the money is never enough to go around?

Onthebeach, Rudds border debacle will go down in history as one of our worst ever stuf up's by a sitting pm in this country.

Meanwhile, he, and Gillard, sit back on their 'SET FOR LIFE ' tax payer funded pensions and I have no doubt that they, unlike ordinary folk, don't get taxed for their personal incomes as if it were a second job.

If you want to make politicians accountable, two things have to happen.

The first is a realistic wage as this will lure the right people. I say this because most MP's come from those who the corporate world pass over.

The second is professional indemnity insurance, much like a lawyer, accountant or a doctor has. Because at least then, the likes of Rudd would have become uninsurable and we the tax payer would have be reimbursed for our taxes he and his understudy willfully wasted.

While I accept the libs have also wasted far to much, much of that has in dealing with Rudds debacle.

Vic super is in the process of planting 50 million tomato plants here. 26 B – double trucks from QLD with the young plants. It’s good to see super money earning good interest 17 % . Tomatoes are expected to come in at 25 %.

Someone made the suggestion that federal govt; should use super money instead of borrowing money elsewhere. I don,t think it would be feasible to pay the gigantic interest rates that super earns.
This is why we have Treasurers of caliber to manage money properly.
We have one of the most worthy politicians as PM right now, I don’t think more money would get him anywhere. It takes a certain type of person that wants to make a life out of politics, I doubt if money would actually do anything, it is to simplistic to think that would achieve a different type of person.

Our previous attempt at a PM was dismal. He may not survive another election.

55 million in Cambodia will go straight into the pockets of corrupt politicians in Cambodia. 15 million per refugee is the going price for more refugees. Hopefully Turnbull will turn that fiasco around.

Why did Abbott agree to take these 15,000 Syrians for. With the debacle we have here now, and he goes and adds more fuel to the fire. It’s not up to Abbott to pick and choose, he must take what the UN says. But you now Abbott was not one to know anything about rules, he just says the first thing that comes into his head. No wonder he got the arce.

All politicians expenses need to be published, that way they will be accountable to the taxpayer. Bishops chopper rides, was the living end. There is lots of ways to bring down a govt. Pure Piggery is one of them, and Abbott’s defense of the offender was just too much.

The tempo has decreased considerably now that Turnbull has taken control, his level headed approach is what we needed badly. Bill will have a fight on his hands to take the prize off Turnbull.

"Make Politicians Accountable"

They already are, Armchair Critic... unfortunately, because of the way things are currently structured, it is to their party limited only to the extent that is in their self interest.

So to begin a process of redressing the balance:

A. when a candidate presents 'their' policies to the people of the electorate whose votes they wish to receive they must announce failure standards by which their individual 'performance' can be assessed, (see the Yes Minister episode 'The Challenge' re this)

B. A candidate must present their quotation for the total costs and conditions of their individual employment for the term of office sought; salary, superannuation contribution, expenses and overheads included as well as the proportion to be withheld against the failure standards assessment at the end of their term.

As a starting point each of these would allow voters to both pre and post-judge all the prospective candidates in their electorate and forcefully remind the politicians to focus on who it is they are supposed to represent.

Onthebeach..
Amusing video, thanks for my first laugh of the day.

As far as the state of the world is concerned theres two issues which bother me.

First is what passes as democracy, I think its a joke.
There needs to be a balance of power between us and them.
If they make the laws that we all must abide by, then we should make the laws that they must abide by.
They can't be allowed to make laws that govern their own conduct.
Its a bad system.

How can any nation propose to 'export' democracy when not one single nation actually has a sound version of it?

Second is the foreign policies of nations who are supposed to hold some moral high ground and act in the name of good.
Covertly destabilising nations and arming extremists in order to bring about regime change is not good policy.
Its in breach of international law and is state sponsored terrorism.

Not to mention a recipe for disaster as we have all now witnessed.

On both issues, I say enough is enough.
Do others not question as I do whether these actions are good policy or just plain stupid?

rehctub,
I think you make a good point that if we pay peanuts we get monkeys.
And how much does employing these fools cost in the long run?

The thing I find mind-boggling is the question of why we need to pay so much just to buy common sense, I see more of it going around for free just with the members of this forum.

WmTrevor,
Yes they are only accountable to the parties they belong to.
They really only care about voters when we're headed to the polling booths and they're grandstanding with all their lies and promises.

I'm probably not the best person to figure out technical aspects of how to make things better, I just stand for the ideal that if they make laws for us, we should do so for them.