Karl was completely right, but the pollies wouldn’t admit it.
Karl Stefanovic faced off against two federal MPs today in an attempt to make them admit taxpayers shouldn’t be paying for their kids to see them work.
But the sometimes strange, always entertaining Today show co-host couldn’t get Christopher Pyne and Anthony Albanese to budge from their scripted and robotic “they are the rules” line.
Mr Pyne repeatedly insisted he had not breached entitlement rules by spending more than $7,000 of tax-payer cash to fly his four children (in business class, no less) from Adelaide to Canberra to see him on the opening day of parliament in 2013, when he was sworn in as a cabinet minister and Leader of the House.
“They are the rules. They fly business class to come to Canberra to see their dad’s job, to see the opening of parliament, I’m the leader of the house,” the Liberal minister said.
“I don’t think that’s an unfair thing to do – whether they fly business or economy.”
Related: 8 much better ways to spend Bronwyn Bishop’s travel money.
He said sometimes they fly economy, sometimes business and – after Karl tried to find out how many other flights there were – went on a tangent saying he didn’t have more than four kids that he was aware of (nudge, wink, etc).
Karl – exasperated by the pollies’ refusal to see logic – replied: “That’s fine, but why should we pay for it?… Just pay for it out of your own pocket.”
Or, if you don’t want to cough up the cash, get the kids to watch it on TV.
Mr Albanese was at pains to jump to his opponent’s defence.
The Labor minister said it wasn’t unreasonable that Mr Pyne’s family was there when he was sworn in, adding that his own family were present for his ceremony.
Karl noted that the usually opposing pollies had joined forces, calling their joint defence of waste of taxpayer dollars “a love-in”.
“Normally you’re against each other, today you’re in bed together,” he said.
Following Bronwyn Bishop’s resignation over her $5,227 taxpayer-funded private helicopter flight from Melbourne to Geelong, it seems all the pollies are running scared.
If only we could charge the government for our kids to follow us around at work…
Do you think we should be coughing up for business class kids tickets?
Related stories:
‘Everyone on the inside knows Bronwyn Bishop is only the tip of the iceberg.’
“Bronwyn Bishop isn’t sorry for what she did. She’s just sorry she got caught.”
The biggest political disgrace today wasn’t Bronwyn Bishop.
Top Comments
I actually think it is reasonable for families to be present at certain occasions, such as the swearing-in ceremony. However I do not think the public should be paying for it and certainly not at business-class prices. Our politicians are already paid very well and in addition receive a pension package that is the envy of most as soon as they finish being a parliamentarian. That is more than sufficient compensation for being away from their families. I do think politicians should receive an expenses package but the rules must be much stricter, the limits much lower and the possibility of rorting more strictly assessed. I have no problem with a politician taking a business class flight on a long haul flight if they have to hit the ground running, or if there is truly no other seat available on a short haul flight they must take but business class must not be routine. It must be justified before the flight is taken.
Pyne: "Bronwyn Bishop should never have taken a helicopter, from Melbourne to Geelong, clearly but that actually wasn't a breach of the rules....all the stories about Tony Burke, so far, none of them have been in breach of the rules...so if the rules are the rules and people stay within them you can't then criticise them..."
- Really? Really Pyne! Don't be so damned obtuse. Yes we can and will criticise the rules and the people who blindly follow them without thinking about what they are doing or how the constituents they are supposed to SERVE might view them.
I couldn't agree more!! Pollies flying business class is understandable especially if they need to work on the plane etc. But honestly their children shouldn't be flying on entitlement claims - their parent makes more than enough to pay for a flight. Pollies earn 6 figures which is much more than the average aussie.
I'm sick of hearing from politicians how hard they work (they're not even doing a good job) and that they are away from families for an x period of time and need to be compensated. Well what can the guys fighting the war in Iraq say??? They are putting their life on the line and are away from families up to or more than 6 months of the year? They're pay packets are no where near what they deserve and to add insult to injury Abbott wanted to reduce their pays. For what so that he can give politicians more perks???
Also the very generous retirement packages need an overhaul. It's a joke $225,000 for life plus a very generous Super plus 10 free domestic flights for life. Incredible. No words!!!!