Tony Abbott gave us a peek behind the curtain yesterday, in his tribute to former resources minister Ian Macfarlane, a man so loyal to the Liberal Party that he tried — and failed — to defect to the Nats late last year. Said Abbott:
“It was a magnificent achievement by the [member] for Groom in his time as minister … and I hope the sector will acknowledge and demonstrate their gratitude to him in his years of retirement from this place.”
Yes, Abbott is openly calling for the mining industry to repay the former minister’s kindness with a cushy job, just as it did with Labor’s Mar’n Ferguson. And the same way so many industries reward former pollies who did them a solid during their parliamentary careers.
Maybe ScoMo will be given a sweet gig in a big company — the only real beneficiaries of this year’s budget — when the good people of Cook have had enough?
One Australian state had a policy of having unusually high salaries in its mining department to facilitate staff rotation with mining companies. Move from industry to the department, grant your old company some rather nice mining tenements and go back to the company to receive your reward.
It annoys me when politicians leave the gravy train of parliament with a generous payout, then pick up another highly paid gig in industry. Smacks of double standards, and cronyism
Cat been belled? But wasn’t Macca on a promise from the ALP in Queensland anyway? Not so much the revolving door put the firm attachment to the public teat
These are just two lists that were compiled a while ago now but they are still only the tip of the iceberg. History will record the influence the mining industry have had in Australia as an example of pure corruption.
http://goo.gl/w7rFIK
http://theaimn.com/mining-and-politics-are-joined-at-the-hip/
The idiot doesn’t have a clue about ethics.