Michael Ronaldson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Special Minister of State) Share this | Hansard source

Sometimes with these types of debates it is tempting to question what is principle and what is politics. Putting that to one side, there is actually a principle at stake in relation to this whole issue. The principle is—and this is the issue that the opposition has with this disallowance motion—do politicians determine their own salaries and other add-ons or do we rely on an independent umpire? By the context of this motion it might be seen that we will take over from the independent umpire. But what happens in this place in 12 months, five years or 10 years time when the nature of the place might change? We might have a group of MPs who are actually desperate to determine far higher terms of engagement for themselves.

So, if you are serious about the principle, the principle must be that we are not the ones who are best placed to determine our own terms and conditions. In fact I think it is an outrageous notion that members of parliament should be determining their own terms and conditions. The opposition has made it very, very clear that the Remuneration Tribunal is an independent umpire who makes these decisions. Whether we like the outcomes or not, and whether some members of the community like them or do not like them, is not the issue. It is the principle of the fact that we should not be determining our own terms and conditions.

Quite frankly I think we owe it to the community for them to know that there is an independent umpire and that it is not politicians making determinations about their own terms and conditions. If anything, maybe the argument should be that we increase the independence of the Remuneration Tribunal so that there is a far bigger gap between us and the independent umpire. This debate today is about who makes the determinations. We disagree with Senator Brown that politicians are the ones who should be determining their own terms and conditions and we passionately believe that should remain the domain of an independent umpire.