The Average MP Costs Australia, on Average $ 1 Million; It Would be Cheaper to Hire Average Monkeys with Brain Implants! By James Reed

Can you believe it? Over one million dollars we pay out just for a bunch of drongos to sell us out, and destroy our freedoms. Really, as indicated in the title, hired monkeys would perform just as well. I mean, Joe Biden is presumably human but is operated by voices beamed into his head, so surely Elon Tusk could put chips into monkeys and make a Planet of the Apes for us. And, I must apologise to my fellow primates for equating them with politicians. Monkeys are beautiful creatures!

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10483563/How-politicians-earn-Australia.html

“Each federal politician is now costing Australian taxpayers more than $1million a year, astonishing new parliamentary data obtained by Daily Mail Australia shows.

Canberra MPs and senators cost the taxpayer an average of $1.13million in 2021, including their salaries, travel expenses and the cost of running their office.

A Daily Mail Australia analysis of 25 federal politicians found Labor leader Anthony Albanese's office cost the most - with $2.58million charged to the taxpayer in the year to September 2021.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison cost the taxpayer slightly less over that period - $2.53million including $549,250 he earned as a salary and $1.9million in expenses.

The offices of Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce and South Australian Senate Leader Penny Wong accrued costs of $1.03million and $1.04million respectively.

By comparison, the office of Labor senator Deborah O'Neill cost only $601,550 to fund.

Daily Mail Australia calculated the cost of a politician's office by combining quarterly expense reports between October 2020 and September 2021 and adding the total to each MP or senator's salary.

The 25 politicians analysed earn an average annual salary of $208,117, based on figures released by federal parliament's Remuneration Tribunal in 2019. 

That year, the tribunal announced a two per cent pay increase for those holding public office. 

The expenses figures, taken from the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority, do not include the cost of Mr Morrison's transport by private plane or the prime minister's two official homes.

Between August 2018 and June 2019, the prime minister's office, Kirribilli House and The Lodge alone had operational costs of $2.6million.”