The SMH has run a story today outlining some of the flaws in the “honesty system” used to police politician entitlements, using the example of Federal Western Australian Coalition MP, Don Randall, who inappropriately tried to receive taxpayer reimbursement for a $5,285 trip to Cairns to take possession of an investment property:
…the West Australian MP sought official advice on whether he could justify his Cairns trip as ”electorate business”.
…on October 17 the Finance Department advised Mr Randall to ”satisfy himself” his trip to Cairns constituted ”electorate business”.
”It remains up to Mr Randall to satisfy himself that his use of the travel and TA is within entitlements, and would be defensible as electorate business,” states the report of the phone call between the Finance Department and Mr Randall’s office…
The phone call report provides another example of the Finance Department’s incapacity or unwillingness to cast judgment on politicians’ questionable expenses.
Previously, Finance claimed it was ”not possible to determine” whether Mr Abbott’s travel to the wedding of then parliamentary colleague Sophie Mirabella was correctly charged to taxpayers as ”official business”.
“Ending the age of entitlement” is a worthy ambition, and one that will ultimately help determine the sustainability of Australia’s public finances.
However, if the Coalition is to be successful, it must ensure that cutbacks are broad-based, with the burden shared by all segments of the economy. This includes tackling politicians own perks and rorts.
It would be much easier for the Government to win support for entitlement reform if there was clear evidence that everyone, including politicians, were sharing the pain.
