In a flurry of activity during the launch of Australian Conservatives, some of you did not receive your weekly dose of common sense. Rest assured it won’t happen again!
If you are interested in my comments last week on the political changes and creation of the Australian Conservatives, you can read them here.
However, a missed email is the least of our problems.
Right now, every man, woman and child in the country has a $20,000 debt hanging over their head. It is their share of the $500 billion national debt that successive governments have incurred ‘on your behalf’.
Alarmingly, there is very little to show for the excesses of the past ten years and the appetite to deal with this massive shadow hanging over our children’s future is limited at best.
Whilst lip service is being paid to making ‘savings’, almost every week sees a new spending initiative proposed to fix the last failed government program.
It’s a catch-22 of irresponsibility, with every Australian wearing the cost.
That’s why we need to restore some accountability and transparency to our parliament. I call it ‘cleaning up Canberra’.
The government’s proposal to remove access to the Gold Pass (which provides unlimited travel to some former politicians) is a good start, but it exempts our former Prime Ministers.
My goal is to stop all post-parliamentary benefits for former politicians, and if we are to extend some support to former Prime Ministers surely it must be subject to a qualifying period.
The last decade has seen a revolving door of leaders, none of whom have even completed a single term. Why should such behaviour be rewarded with any special benefits when the negative consequences are borne by us all?
My solution is to offer support for former PMs only after they have been in the job for four years. It seems a reasonable balance between recognising our political leaders whilst meeting community expectations.
It remains to be seen whether my proposal will be supported by the major parties.
There is a lot more we can do to help restore faith and confidence in our political representation, however this is a small step in the right direction.
The more Australians who get behind this campaign, the more effective it will be. You can register your support through the Australian Conservatives website.
Cory Bernardi is the author of seven books and has been a member of the Australian rowing team, a publican, an investment portfolio manager and spent nearly 14 years as an Australian Senator.
