Leader of The Nationals David Littleproud is calling on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to rule out creating an additional 53 federal politicians at Wednesday’s Labor Caucus meeting amid a cost-of-living crisis.
Mr Littleproud said the extra federal politicians would cost Australian taxpayers a minimum of $62.5 million every year and the Prime Minister so far has failed to rule out a proposal for more federal politicians , while charging taxpayers nearly $500,000 to bring his MPs back for one meeting and a drink at the Lodge.
He said the Labor Party dominated parliamentary Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters (JSCEM) proposed further investigation into expanding Parliament by up to 49 House of Representative MPs and recommended four additional Senators.
“Estimations using the most up to date Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority (IPEA) expenditure reports from 2021 show the cost of the additional MPs and Senators is conservatively $62.5 million,” Mr Littleproud said.
“Given inflation, this would be even higher now.”
It comes as Labor politicians head to Canberra for a PR stunt and photo opportunity crisis ‘talks’.
The ‘talks’ will be followed by an evening social event at the Prime Minister’s Lodge, allowing Labor MPs to eat and drink on the taxpayer and stay overnight to claim for travel allowance, costing an estimated half a million dollars.
“The Prime Minister must use his cost-of-living chats, or photo opportunity this week, to publicly rule out this unnecessary expense of more politicians, which he has so far failed to do.
“We need a better bureaucracy, not a bigger bureaucracy. If the Prime Minister is fair dinkum about fixing the cost -of-living crisis he must immediately rule out the unnecessary expense of more politicians that Australians don’t want or need.
“Australians want real answers to the cost-of-living crisis, not a government that only focuses on itself and creates more politicians.”
IPEA figures show the average cost for a Member of Parliament is $1.192 million, including an MP’s base salary of $211,250, their superannuation of a generous $44,100, electorate allowance of $32,000, electorate office base salaries of $327,587 and average add itional expenses of $577,620.
IPEA figures also show the average cost for a Senator is $1 million, including a Senator’s base salary of $211,250, their superannuation of a generous $44,100, electorate allowance of $32,000, electorate office base salaries of $327,587 and average additio nal expenses of $388,014.
“The Coalition members of the JSCEM noted that the Government had no mandate to increase the size of the Parliament and had concerns about increasing the size of the House of Representatives and the Senate in the middle of the cost -of-living crisis.
“The Prime Minster failing to rule out additional MPs this week would be out of touch and out of step with expectations of the Australian public.”
