‘Are you angry? I certainly am’: Pauline Hanson calls for Julie Bishop and Christopher Pyne’s whopping $200,000-a-year pension payouts to be scrapped – and claims the pair only quit politics to maximise their payouts
- Pauline Hanson has renewed calls for parliamentary pensions to be scrapped
- Outraged over retiring MP Julie Bishop’s $210,000 plus a year pension she’ll get
- Departing minister Christopher Pyne to receive a similar parliamentary pension
- Ms Hanson believes money from parliamentary pensions can be better spent
Pauline Hanson has renewed calls for the lifelong parliamentary pensions of retiring federal politicians to be scrapped, describing the lucrative pay outs as a waste of taxpayers’ money.
The One Nation leader took to social media to express her outrage over the approximately $200,000 a year pension former Deputy Liberal Leader Julie Bishop will receive for life when she leaves federal parliament at the next election in May.
She also attacked Defence Minister Christopher Pyne, who will also receive a similar annual pension after he announced on Saturday he’s quitting politics after 26 years in parliament.
Ms Hanson believes the money would be better invested on coal mining, an industry that provides the livelihood for one in four households in the central Queensland city of Rockhampton.
An angry Pauline Hanson (pictured) posted a Facebook video to express her anger over parliamentary pensions Julie Bishop and Christopher Pyne will receive
‘They’re doing it tough and what makes me angry is that Julie Bishop, who is going to retire from parliament now after 19 years, is going to retire on over a $200,000 a year parliamentary pension,’ Ms Hanson fumed in the Facebook video.
‘Are you angry? Because I certainly am.’
Ms Bishop is set to receive at least $210,000 a year from her time served as cabinet and junior minister, based on a Department of Finance handbook for members of parliament elected before 2004.
The estimated parliamentary pension is ten times the amount Australian single pensioners get each year, according to Ms Hanson.
‘This is something I’ve been fighting against the last 22 years when I was first in parliament about parliamentary pensions and former prime ministers getting this payout from the people, the taxpayers that we can least afford,’ Ms Hanson said.
Former deputy leader Julie Bishop (pictured) will receive a parliamentary pension of at least $200,000 a year after she recently announced she’ll retire at the next federal election
Ms Hanson’s Facebook video has since attracted 57,000 views and garnered more than 1,000 comments.
‘All politicians should put there super away just like all works and live on that just like all workers, no more retirement funds for the politicians they are employees just like us, difference is, we are their employers, get it, what don’t they understand when we say, enough is enough,’ one woman commented.
One man added: ‘Truly how do they justify this? What sort of income would a member of the general public need to achieve the same?’
The debate over parliamentary pensions continued on Monday when Ms Hanson went as far as calling MPs who are retiring now to get a bigger payout than they would if they served the next term in Opposition as ‘parasites’.
Departing minister Christopher Pyne is also in line for a hefty lifelong retirement pension
For politicians elected prior to 2004, pensions are calculated on their average wage over the past three years.
‘She’s (Ms Bishop) getting out now because [if] they end up in Opposition, it goes on the previous three years wages – which she’ll lose about $70,000 a year,’ Ms Hanson told Channel Seven’s Sunrise.
She had this message for her parliamentary colleagues.
‘We’ve got two days left in parliament. Move the bill to freeze this payout of the previous superannuation that Julie Bishop, Christopher Pyne and eight Labor MPs who are resigning from Parliament are entitled to,’ she said.
‘It is disgusting and does not pass the pub test.’