Andrew Leigh

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 26 OCTOBER 2020

Between ad rorts, water rorts, regional rorts, reef rorts, robodebt, stacking the Administrative Appeals Tribunal and forging documents, the Morrison government is making the Rum Corps look like Mary MacKillop.

The Australia Post board now doubles as a Liberal Party branch meeting, handing out Cartier watches to executives while postal workers cop pay cuts. Over at ASIC, the corporate watchdog paid one of its senior staff a $69,000 relocation allowance that pushed his pay packet higher than that of the Chief Justice, while another received $118,000 in tax advice so he could 'optimise' his Australian tax.

Here's a hint for public sector top executives: you probably shouldn't be getting side benefits that are bigger than what the typical worker takes home in a year.

The Morrison government didn't catch these payments; the Auditor-General did—as the Auditor-General caught sports rorts and air rorts. Yet, rather than rewarding the Auditor-General for saving taxpayer dollars, the government are cutting his budget, and they're using every excuse to avoid creating a national integrity commission. They're still funnelling public dollars to their mates. Just this year, the Prime Minister insisted the Bushfire Recovery Agency hire a long-term Liberal Party staffer on a salary of $242,000. His nickname is 'Cronie'.

At least the Rum Corps knew how to grow the economy.

ENDS

Authorised by Paul Erickson, ALP, Canberra.