Australian news and politics.

[JS96]

Disgraceful but the worst part? It's all within the rules.

Every country over they just make up all these luxury rules for themselves and I doubt anything but a revolution could stop it. Automatic pay increases. Massive budgets for provisions.

All the waste on numerous things. Imagine if that sum was invested directly in people's education! 96 million for a website could pay for how many courses.

 

[tsf]

Handouts are for politicians and the corporate elite.

Everyone else has to 'stand on their own two feet'

 

[Muz]

Every country over they just make up all these luxury rules for themselves and I doubt anything but a revolution could stop it. Automatic pay increases. Massive budgets for provisions.

All the waste on numerous things. Imagine if that sum was invested directly in people's education! 96 million for a website could pay for how many courses.

I want to know does no prick in the government know how to write a contract?

$96 million is just mental.

I know nothing about websites and how hard it is but surely if you paid 10 programmers $300k a year for a whole year you'd still be at a max $3 million.

What the fuck is going on with the procuring people and contracts managers that can't put a fucking lid on things? Somebody should lose their job.

But don't worry about that let's talk about Anika Wells and a few thousand bucks. (Not that she should be let off the hook but Christ on a bike.)

I also want to know who in the corporate flight booking department OK'd a $34k flight to New York. That's just QANTAS taking the piss. (Another reason why Qantas are cunts @LFC ). They charge it because they can and they have the government over a barrel.

Why couldn't the stupid bloody woman fly business class? It's not like you're slumming it. They don't fucking care because, firstly, they wouldn't know what the flight cost, and secondly it isn't their money.

Here's multiple fairs at 20% of the cost with 3 days notice to New York business class.

They're probably not allowed to get airfares to alternative airlines so it's hard to pin the blame on anyone but QANTAS. Fuck QANTAS. Besides grifting tax and royalty dodging miners QANTAS are the biggest corporate cunts in Australia. (Special shout out to KPMG for informing their clients how to dodge tax after getting a government briefing and Deloitte that used AI to write a report and then charged $1.4 million.)

 

[LFC]

mate I know they are C's - their flight routes suit my regular OS need plain and simple - IF I can reduce stop overs I'm all in.......bugger 2 stop overs many hours waiting etcetc lose a day or so, I'm back with my fam sooner than later.
Agree everything else you say especially when its on our Tax $ re Govs.
I know of some companies quoting tenders to Govs re the green outlook and sustainability.
Its like writing your own golden ticket - tenders get approved so easily no matter the price just so as its looked upon we are doing a great thing here.
Utter joke.
Wells yep is small fry but the amount of Wells types adds up as well as we know.

 

[Football us life]

$1000 spent on car waiting time whilst you're watching the tennis?

I think a lot if these politicians have started to believe their own hype....

 

[JS96]

You know your underpaid when a parking space earns more than you. Just park the car on me and give me the money.

 

[JS96]

There's a select group earning well from all this public money. No one says anything to not bite the hand that feeds them. Some of it may be open to review. I think the private sector is even worse now with multiple steps to achieve anything and everyone along the line charging for their unnecessary service.

Saw a report that a certain job used to be 3 steps. Now it's 10 involving many players all charging a fee as you go through.

 

[Alex M]

Disgraceful but the worst part? It's all within the rules.

The rules need changing. They've always been very loose and open to abuse.

 

[patjennings]

The rules need changing. They've always been very loose and open to abuse.

Agree with this but I do understand the family reunion component. You want parliament to be representative of society. Do we all want older male parliamentarians or do we want to attract younger members of either sex that have young families. It just needs to be better defined what is allowable.

One of the biggest attack dogs on this is Senator James Paterson . He spent $38,184.80 on Family Travel in the last 3yrs (2022-2025). Anika Wells spent $36,142.90 in the same time period. She is actually no 34 on the list apparently. I suspect this attacking is more to do with the social media ban than anything else.

But still the point stands than the rules need changing.

 

[WhatAmIWatching]

I want to know does no prick in the government know how to write a contract?

$96 million is just mental.

I know nothing about websites and how hard it is but surely if you paid 10 programmers $300k a year for a whole year you'd still be at a max $3 million.

What the fuck is going on with the procuring people and contracts managers that can't put a fucking lid on things? Somebody should lose their job.

But don't worry about that let's talk about Anika Wells and a few thousand bucks. (Not that she should be let off the hook but Christ on a bike.)

I also want to know who in the corporate flight booking department OK'd a $34k flight to New York. That's just QANTAS taking the piss. (Another reason why Qantas are cunts @LFC ). They charge it because they can and they have the government over a barrel.

Why couldn't the stupid bloody woman fly business class? It's not like you're slumming it. They don't fucking care because, firstly, they wouldn't know what the flight cost, and secondly it isn't their money.

Here's multiple fairs at 20% of the cost with 3 days notice to New York business class.

They're probably not allowed to get airfares to alternative airlines so it's hard to pin the blame on anyone but QANTAS. Fuck QANTAS. Besides grifting tax and royalty dodging miners QANTAS are the biggest corporate cunts in Australia. (Special shout out to KPMG for informing their clients how to dodge tax after getting a government briefing and Deloitte that used AI to write a report and then charged $1.4 million.)

View attachment 4603

The report to the Senate was that the website cost $4M, the rest was the upgrade to the telecommunications backbone, server farms and workstations. Each decent cybersecurity firewall cost $20k (at least). I have no idea how many remote sites BOM would have to collect data but even if you bought a cheap cybersecurity device for each site you are looking at $8k/site, then the aggregate points would be over the $20k. Distance is a factor if they are using fibre (Victoria & the ACT are OK because it has been mostly wired) or mobile or satellite. Then there is the question of redundancy and diversity (not sure what requirements BOM would have), failover, workstation & server security, plus the design of the telecommunications & cybersecurity, testing & commissioning.
Was it worth $96M, I can't definitively say that it is but knowing the consultants, they got ripped off. I am also aware that one of Australia's biggest private companies, have also overpaid for a similar project. That is the problem when you have corporate managers that have no idea that they are in the 21st century.

 

[Alex M]

Agree with this but I do understand the family reunion component. You want parliament to be representative of society. Do we all want older male parliamentarians or do we want to attract younger members of either sex that have young families. It just needs to be better defined what is allowable.

One of the biggest attack dogs on this is Senator James Paterson . He spent $38,184.80 on Family Travel in the last 3yrs (2022-2025). Anika Wells spent $36,142.90 in the same time period. She is actually no 34 on the list apparently. I suspect this attacking is more to do with the social media ban than anything else.

But still the point stands than the rules need changing.

I don't have a problem with the family reunion part. Bring them to Canberra. Don't use it to pay for your annual family holiday.

 

[zimbos05]

I used to work for a travel company that does politician flights bookings. The amount of waste on travel was ridiculous. Even just for domestic travel, some politicians would seriously take the piss. They'd wake up one day and just be like, "I feel like going to Adelaide for 1 day, book a flight" We'd quote them some stupid amount and they'd respond with, "book it!"

 

[erogenouszone]

Why do you think politicians all over the world get significantly more wealthier than when they went it? Helps when you have zero expenses.

 

[patjennings]

Meanwhile Barnaby going to PHON means that is now recognised as party and Pauline gets a 42% pay rise as the leader.

 

[Football us life]

Why do you think politicians all over the world get significantly more wealthier than when they went it? Helps when you have zero expenses.

The British had quite a brutal political expenses scandal some years back. It was just after the 2008 world financial crisis...

There was a multitude of different MP's from all political parties involved and some of the expenses claims were off the scale. Claiming for such things as pay tv and grocery shopping. One MP claimed £500 for someone to come to their house to clean the plasma tv screen....

I can also remember reading about one particular lady MP who actually charged the taxpayer £1.20 for a packet of chocolate biscuits from the corner shop near her house....

Not a lot of money but it's not the point. They should be paying for basic groceries out of their own pocket!

But it was basically the done thing to claim everything in their lives both personal and work related as expenses....

A journalist used the Freedom of Information Act to get records, which were then leaked to the media, revealing these MPs' expense claims.


Many MPs resigned, were sacked, or chose not to stand again, hundreds repaid money, and the system of self-regulation on MP's expenses was abolished.

There's definitely a culture of entitlement within the political class, regardless of which country that they operate in.

This Australian political class is going to be under the microscope now and we're only at the tip of the iceberg....

 

[zimbos05]

I honestly don't understand how first world countries are so ok with blatant corruption.

 

[tsf]

It’s a joke how they can jus ‘correct the record’ or pay it back years later.

If anyone else did it in their job they’d be getting a visit from the cops.

 

[Football us life]

It’s a joke how they can jus ‘correct the record’ or pay it back years later.

If anyone else did it in their job they’d be getting a visit from the cops.

Which other occupations are as self regulated as politicians?

Self-regulation (such as professional codes of conduct) and formal regulation exist for professionals such as lawyers, accountants, teachers – so why not the same for politicians?

Okay so they will cite things like ICAC which investigates and exposes corruption in the public sector including politics which ended Gladys Berejiklian but it doesn't write the rules....

And where else are rules so subjective?


In his dystopian classic 'Brave New World' Aldous Huxley's Resident World Controller Mustapha Mond declared.....

“As I make the laws here, I can also break them. With impunity.”

 

[patjennings]

It’s a joke how they can jus ‘correct the record’ or pay it back years later.

If anyone else did it in their job they’d be getting a visit from the cops.

It's only anyone without connections that would get a visit by the cops. Just look at the difference in treatment between your normal person and anyone connected to the old boys network.

 

[Jetsfan]

Never would have happened under the Reform party, fat Labor pigs