Pauline Hanson’s One Nation, 1998 Queensland State Election

Principles of Direction – Pre Release

Politician’s Accountability and Superannuation

“Politicians are servants of the people – not their masters”.

Preamble: One Nation has been listening to the people of Queensland and will begin the re-building of public confidence in politicians. One Nation, whether achieving balance of power or an absolute majority, will bring honesty, accountability and ethics back to parliament and will stop waste of public money through the following policies:

slash politician’s superannuation;

public access to all politician’s expenses; and

FIXED four year parliamentary terms.

One Nation elected members of parliament will demonstrate these ethics through a code of conduct, which is being developed, and then, by example, will force other parties to toe the line.

Slash Politicians Superannuation:

One Nation is strongly critical of the Borbidge Government’s Budget for failing to cut back the grossly excessive superannuation entitlements enjoyed by parliamentarians, while, on the other hand, grossly under-funding disability services, child care and child protection agencies.

One Nation policy stands for the significant reduction of the obscene politician’s superannuation scheme. In future, politician’s superannuation will be decreased to that applicable to state public servants. This change will also ensure a deferral in the payment of benefits until the age of 55. The old argument that politicians are unique because their tenure of employment is uncertain is no longer valid as there are very few members of the public, if any, who have the luxury of job security.

One Nation is unable to justify the entitlement of a payout of approximately $750,000 for a politician who loses the next election after just 15 years in parliament when compared to the $265,000 which a state public servant on an equivalent salary would receive after the same period of employment.

Whilst having been responsible for creating job insecurity in our society politicians have protected themselves from any impact through these obscene payments. The re-allocation of these funds to areas such as family services will provide a strong beginning to rebuilding the social fabric of our society.

Public Access to ALL Politician’s Expenses:

One Nation policy insists that all politician’s expenses that are publicly funded be totally open and accessible to the public. The administration of these expenses shall be undertaken by public servants NOT ministerial staff. This will continue to ensure our representatives in parliament remain answerable to the people.

FIXED Four Year Parliamentary Terms:

One Nation policy is to introduce fixed four year parliamentary terms. This will ensure politicians do not run to the polls early based on short term public opinion.

This change will ensure:

Pauline Hanson’s One Nation has been listening to the community.

THE PARTY IS OVER!

Politicians will be answerable to the community and, as such, will share in the burden of their own mistakes. One Nation believes everybody should be held responsible for their actions – politicians included.

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