Australian Politics Forum - Politicians salaries

freediver Gold Member Online www.ozpolitic.com Posts: 47353 At my desk.	Politicians salaries Mar 25^th, 2008 at 10:49pm Politicians should be paid more, but not get any special super, delayed payments or any other 'hidden' salary. You get what you pay for. Pay peanuts, get monkeys. The pay should be equivalent to what you'd get for a similar position in the public or private sector.
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IQSRLOW Gold Member Offline OzPolitic Posts: 1618	Re: Politicians salaries Reply #1 - Mar 25^th, 2008 at 10:57pm Nice sentiment, but far too often monkey's are parachuted into safe seats by the apes that run the show- just look at any Labor state govt. It's a joke that even their own are finding hard to swallow
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deepthought

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Re: Politicians salaries
Reply #2 - Mar 26^th, 2008 at 2:44pm

freediver wrote on Mar 25^th, 2008 at 10:49pm:

Politicians should be paid more, but not get any special super, delayed payments or any other 'hidden' salary. You get what you pay for. Pay peanuts, get monkeys. The pay should be equivalent to what you'd get for a similar position in the public or private sector.

I agree with IQ. The problem as I see it is that Liebor recruits from the trade unions and these oafs have no skills of any kind. They wouldn't earn $150,000 in the real world so they are actually vastly overpaid.

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freediver

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Re: Politicians salaries
Reply #3 - Mar 26^th, 2008 at 2:46pm

Are you saying we shouldn't pay them more because we are getting monkeys for the peanuts we currently pay? Don't you think paying them more would help solve that problem? I can't imagine a HR person thinking to themselves, "hmmm, can't seem to get decent employees at the salary we offer, why don't we trying offering less".

The pay should also reflect the risk and personal investment involved in running for office.

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deepthought

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Re: Politicians salaries
Reply #4 - Mar 26^th, 2008 at 2:50pm

freediver wrote on Mar 26^th, 2008 at 2:46pm:

Are you saying we shouldn't pay them more because we are getting monkeys for the peanuts we currently pay? Don't you think paying them more would help solve that problem? I can't imagine a HR person thinking to themselves, "hmmm, can't seem to get decent employees at the salary we offer, why don't we trying offering less".

The pay should also reflect the risk and personal investment involved in running for office.

Like the private sector they should have wages paid according to the skills and qualifications they bring with them.

Little Kevvy would be on $30k.

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freediver Gold Member Online www.ozpolitic.com Posts: 47353 At my desk.	Re: Politicians salaries Reply #5 - Mar 26^th, 2008 at 2:52pm Like the private sector they should have wages paid according to the skills and qualifications they bring with them. Are you suggesting that each politician be paid differently according to some criteria based on their skills?
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deepthought

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Re: Politicians salaries
Reply #6 - Mar 26^th, 2008 at 2:55pm

freediver wrote on Mar 26^th, 2008 at 2:52pm:

Like the private sector they should have wages paid according to the skills and qualifications they bring with them.

Are you suggesting that each politician be paid differently according to some criteria based on their skills?

At the moment we have a problem with a (largely) highly skilled and professionally educated Liberal team and some unionists on the Liebor benches.

Should we have a different pay scale for Liebor and Liberal? Or treat them as individuals?

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freediver Gold Member Online www.ozpolitic.com Posts: 47353 At my desk.	Re: Politicians salaries Reply #7 - Mar 26^th, 2008 at 2:56pm I don't think it would be practical to base a politician's salary on anything other than the job they do.
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deepthought Gold Member Offline In Defence Of Liberty Posts: 2869	Re: Politicians salaries Reply #8 - Mar 26^th, 2008 at 3:05pm freediver wrote on Mar 26^th, 2008 at 2:56pm: I don't think it would be practical to base a politician's salary on anything other than the job they do. I agree with that but the issue is of course while some may be underpaid most of the Liebor bench is overpaid. What do you do?
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freediver

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Re: Politicians salaries
Reply #9 - Mar 26^th, 2008 at 3:09pm

I think we should put the salaries up. With more skilled people competing for the positions it would be harder for factional interests to control who ends up getting elected. There would be more external competition, more competition within parties and a greater incentive for party members to go public if they think the wrong thing has been done.

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deepthought

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Re: Politicians salaries
Reply #10 - Mar 26^th, 2008 at 3:12pm

freediver wrote on Mar 26^th, 2008 at 3:09pm:

I think we should put the salaries up. With more skilled people competing for the positions it would be harder for factional interests to control who ends up getting elected. There would be more external competition, more competition within parties and a greater incentive for party members to go public if they think the wrong thing has been done.

Once again you have a problem with rigged seats. Look at the number of union men who have been shoe-horned into parliament.

Lifting the salaries will only see greater greed from the unions who force their people in against far better qualified candidates.

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Sprintcyclist Gold Member Offline OzPolitic Posts: 39506 Gender:	Re: Politicians salaries Reply #11 - Mar 26^th, 2008 at 3:13pm We should have a wider range of experts as pollies. eg, the countries best scientists, best engineers, best teachers, best ethitists, best managers, best economists. As it is, we mainly have exlawyers there. To get the best, we have to offer the best wages.
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freediver Gold Member Online www.ozpolitic.com Posts: 47353 At my desk.	Re: Politicians salaries Reply #12 - Mar 26^th, 2008 at 3:20pm Lifting the salaries will only see greater greed from the unions who force their people in against far better qualified candidates. you don't think it would also see greater competition?
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deepthought

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Re: Politicians salaries
Reply #13 - Mar 26^th, 2008 at 3:23pm

freediver wrote on Mar 26^th, 2008 at 3:20pm:

Lifting the salaries will only see greater greed from the unions who force their people in against far better qualified candidates.

you don't think it would also see greater competition?

No. They don't get a look in. I believe both a Tasmanian and a NSW sitting pollie were displaced last time around by union bullies. One union thug was Greg Combet and I can't recall the other off hand.

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freediver Gold Member Online www.ozpolitic.com Posts: 47353 At my desk.	Re: Politicians salaries Reply #14 - Mar 26^th, 2008 at 3:34pm Let me get this straight, you honestly believe that increasing the salary offered for a postion will not increase the competition for it? Are you ever capable of looking past the partisan issues and partisan solutions? Is it really that hard for you to consider a solution other than voting out Labor?
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