Stop MPs wasting taxpayers money on personal expenses - Federal corruption watchdog NOW!

The issue

I am so sick of it. Politicians are freely getting away with funding personal trips, spending tens of thousands of dollars, at the expense of the taxpayer. Australia urgently needs a Federal corruption watchdog to stop this unfair abuse of entitlements!

The Health Minister’s New Year’s Eve trips to the Gold Coast, the Foreign Ministers trips to the polo, Minister for Finance taking his wife to the AFL Grand Final, the leader of the opposition flying his wife all over the country while he used an RAAF plane - all funded by us hardworking taxpayers.

This is just the start of it - the list goes on. At the moment, politicians are able to twist the rules and rort the system.

While Centrelink payments, pensions, health services, education face ongoing funding pressures and we are constantly told WE the taxpayers need to tighten our belts - our politicians continue to abuse the system to live rock star lifestyles. It has to stop.

Please sign & share - unless an independent Federal watchdog is established to hold them accountable, this unconscionable behaviour will continue.

This petition had 80,813 supporters

The issue

I am so sick of it. Politicians are freely getting away with funding personal trips, spending tens of thousands of dollars, at the expense of the taxpayer. Australia urgently needs a Federal corruption watchdog to stop this unfair abuse of entitlements!

The Health Minister’s New Year’s Eve trips to the Gold Coast, the Foreign Ministers trips to the polo, Minister for Finance taking his wife to the AFL Grand Final, the leader of the opposition flying his wife all over the country while he used an RAAF plane - all funded by us hardworking taxpayers.

This is just the start of it - the list goes on. At the moment, politicians are able to twist the rules and rort the system.

While Centrelink payments, pensions, health services, education face ongoing funding pressures and we are constantly told WE the taxpayers need to tighten our belts - our politicians continue to abuse the system to live rock star lifestyles. It has to stop.

Please sign & share - unless an independent Federal watchdog is established to hold them accountable, this unconscionable behaviour will continue.

The Decision Makers

Bill Shorten
Shadow Minister for the NDIS and Government Services
Responded
Gday Graeme, and the 82,000 Australians who have signed your petition calling for an federal ICAC. Graeme, you start your petition by saying “I am so so sick of it.” You talk about former Health Minister Susan Ley’s trips to the gold coast, and Julie Bishop’s expenses for polo matches. Well, I’m sick of it too. To have Government Ministers misusing public funds is appalling, especially while they’re demanding families cop cuts to medicare, school funding, and family payments. I hear you, and I write to say that today, Labor is taking action. I’ve just returned from the Parliament chamber, where I introduced a Private Member’s Bill and spoke about Labor’s plan for reform. You call for a Federal ICAC. Labor has moved to establish a senate inquiry to take a look at exactly that. My speech here lays out our plan: https://www.facebook.com/BillShorten/videos/1229713263731899/ Keep in touch on Facebook so I can keep you updated on our progress. One question you might have is “why start with a committee?” Why not just introduce an ICAC right now? Well, we want to make sure this is done right. We want to look at how the state ICACs are running, what lessons we can learn from them, and whether it’s better to introduce a new body or change existing laws. It’s important to get this right, and a committee inquiry is the parliamentary process to do that. The Senate inquiry Labor has moved to establish will accept public submissions. Your advocacy is important to that process, and I’ll let you know on Facebook when that’s open. Keep up the good work. Bill Shorten, Leader of the Opposition.
Malcolm Turnbull
Malcolm Turnbull
Prime Minister

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