For some reason, Australia gets more than it’s fair share of dud politicians. What concerns me the most is that it is this bunch of dills are left in charge of Australia’s economy and our national security. One only has to look at the dud from Warringah who is at complete odds with the electorate on any number of things and in particular, same sex marriage, or even the bevy of beauties that got chucked out because they hold some connection to foreign citizenship.
Frankly, they don’t have the brains between them to be given that responsibility. At the moment, we could well be faced with the prospect that the chip shop lady could get to a position where she holds the balance of power without having a clue on almost everything she opines.
Is it that easy to become a politician or is it that corrupt? Are we given over to vested interests that hold sway on who gets a guernsey? The rise of independent politicians is in one respect a sign of better things might happen however, for most, they ride into the halls of parliament on the coat tails of a major party then opt out to represent god knows what. Case in point was Senator Fraser Anning who lasted around one hour as the new member for the Hanson party, having 19 votes behind him, and now holds a seat in the halls of power possibly for the next six years.
We need to change the system and change it dramatically. Warren Buffet, whether real or not, supposedly proffered the following 8 point plan for how the US Congress should be constructed.
- 1. No Tenure / No Pension. A Parliamentarian collects a salary while in office. No pay and no benefits of any kind when they are out of office.
- 2. Parliament (past, present & future) participates in Social Security. All funds in the Parliamentary retirement/superannuation fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Parliamentarians participate with the Australian people. It may not be used for any other purpose.
- 3. Parliamentarians can make their own contributions to Superannuation for their own retirement plan over and above the Superannuation Guarantee just as all Australians do.
- 4. Parliament will no longer vote them self a pay raise. Parliamentary salaries will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.
- 5. Abolish Parliamentary privilege. Parliamentarians must equally abide by all laws they impose on the Australian people.
- 6. Election promises are a contract with the people. If parliamentarians do not honour their promises they cannot stand for re-election again. This applies to parliamentarians who form government AND those who do not.
- 7. Serving as a Parliamentarian is an honour, not a career, so ours should serve a maximum of three terms, then go home and back to work.
- 8. If the Government budget balance is not improved between one election and the next all parliamentarians, government, opposition, minor party or independent, cannot stand for re-election again.
I fully subscribe to this as a concept. It would hopefully eliminate the ascent of student politicians who have not played any part in how society works, rising through the ranks of the political parties and becoming lifelong members, or those that are parachuted in because they serve some populist agenda.
So to the question, why do we get these duds, we vote them in, or at worst, we do nothing to ensure that we get the representation we should be getting.
We need a change and we we need it now.
