WA Premier Mark McGowan
As Crikey reported at the beginning of the month, Western Australian members of parliament receive (at the very least) $78,000 every year in addition to their salary as an electorate allowance, and are under no obligation to report it anywhere.
The Members of Parliament Tribunal Determination which sets the allowance states:
It is intended that this Allowance will be used for expenses incurred to assist with serving the electorate, including:
- information and communication technology, including mobile phone use, newsletters and internet publications;
- awards and support for community groups or individuals;
- hospitality and entertainment associated with a Member’s official business;
- advertising, other than for the purposes of campaigning, electioneering or political party promotion;
- costs associated with Electoral Management Systems; and
- stationery and printing.
So Crikey sent an email to all members of the upper (the legislative council) and lower (the legislative assembly) houses, and asked the following questions:
- How did you spend the $78,000 dollars you receive as an electorate allowance in 2016-2017?
- If you did not spend all of your electorate allowance, what did you do with the remainder?
- Do you believe that the process of what the electorate allowance is spent on should be made more transparent?
We let the newly elected backbenchers off the hook, who wouldn’t have a full years worth of electorate allowance to report on yet — although we did ask newly elected Greens leader Alison Xamon her thoughts — and she did not hold back in sharing them (see below). These are the responses we’ve gotten so far:
Premier Mark McGowan MLA, Labor Member for Rockingham
(Through a spokesperson)
The electorate allowance is designed to cover a range of different costs the Member of Parliament incurs to run the electorate office and service the electorate. This includes the general running of the office, printing and stationary costs, community support and various communication costs.
The allowance is provided to Members of Parliament to use at their discretion.
The allowance is regularly reviewed by the Salaries and Allowances Tribunal, an independent statutory body.
Liza Harvey MLA, Liberal Deputy Leader, Member for Scarborough
As you are aware, the Salaries and Allowances Tribunal determines the remuneration of Members of the Legislative Assembly, including electorate allowances. I use my electorate allowance for the purposes in which it is provided — to support me in representing and working for my electorate. All electorate allowances in WA are deemed as assessable income unless expenses for running an office are legitimate deductions as assessed by ATO.
As some examples, I have provided a School and Church Communities Event Fund to my electorate since I was first elected providing, on application, funding to schools, community groups and churches for community events in (or near) my electorate of Scarborough, as well as sponsoring awards at schools within my electorate, assisting local community organisations with hardcopies of newsletters and so forth.
Alison Xamon MLC, Greens WA leader, Member for the North Metropolitan Region
I only received Electorate Allowance from 22 May which is when I started my term.
Did I have any left over?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Um no. Look at how many portfolios I have*. I am Leading the Greens. I have TWO staff. It is a joke. Not only do I spend every single cent of my electorate allowance on the running of my office (including trying to boost my meagre staff allocation), I also spend MY OWN MONEY, MY FAMILY’S MONEY to run the office. I still haven’t accumulated enough electorate allowance to even get the basics I need to fully kit my office out. And I have had to buy my own furniture. I haven’t even been given a permanent office yet. My staff, volunteers and I are all trying to do our jobs out of 2 rooms. And you want to know if I have money left over??
Maybe you can do a story about that. I really object to only receiving the same allocation as a Government backbencher who really don’t seem to have anything to do. In the meantime I regularly work a 70 hour week.
I am fine with transparency. In fact my party requires me to do exactly that. But I just wish transparency would translate to appropriate resourcing for parties such as the Greens.
(*Xamon is the WA Green’s Spokesperson on Health, Mental Health, Disability, Education, Training, Commerce, Industrial Relations and Worker Safety, Law and Order, Corrective Services, Electoral Affairs and Integrity of Government, Public Sector, Community Services, Child Protection, Youth, Seniors and Aging, Volunteering, Women, Family and Domestic Violence, Multicultural, Sexuality and Gender Identity, Veterans Issues, Gambling)
Robin Chapple MLC, Greens, Member for the Mining and Pastoral Region
Being the Member for Mining and Pastoral I receive an Electoral Allowance of $103,350.00 (higher than metro, you would note that there are a number of variations based on electorate location) plus as other members do a Motor Vehicle Allowance of an extra $30,130.41 = a total non-salary income of $133,480.41. I expended a total of $134,294.50 on staffing and electoral expenditure with the extra $814.09 coming from my personal salary, I also expend a further $16,557.79 on tithing to my party out of my personal salary.
All previous years have shown an over expenditure of the Electoral Allowances.
I believe that all expenditure of Electoral Allowance and Motor Vehicle Allowance should be made public as required of me by my party to its membership.
Ian Blayney MLA, Liberal Member for Geraldton
If you’d like to present yourself at my office in Geraldton, you’re more than welcome to go through my cheque butts and see where it goes.
[Then, after further correspondence from Crikey asking about whether Blayney kept electronic records]
Not really. Pay most of my bills with a cheque book, and write down for accountant. Dare say I’m your only offer. People in the regions basically have to go to the capital city for all kinds of things, no choice, so offer’s on the table. But I wouldn’t send financial stuff to anyone electronically.
Mia Davies MLA, National Party Member for the Central Wheatbelt
WA Members of Parliament are entitled to an electorate allowance to assist in the effective representation of their electorate. The allowance may be used at the Member’s discretion for a range of expenses incurred to assist with serving the electorate. I can confirm that the electorate allowance I receive is used in accordance with Part 3 of the Members of Parliament – Determination No. 2 of 2016 of the Salaries and Allowances Tribunal.
Opposition leader Mike Nahan hasn’t responded to our questions yet, but in response to our queries in the initial story a spokesperson told Crikey:
“The Salaries and Allowances Tribunal was established to determine or report on the remuneration to be paid or provided to, among others, Members of Parliament. This includes the electorate allowances of Members of Parliament. It is a process that is independent of Members of Parliament.”
We’re still waiting on responses from everyone else — we’ve had a handful of acknowledgements and a lot of silence. We’ll keep you posted on what people do and don’t tell us.
I approve of politicians receiving an electoral allowance they can use at their discretion but I also believe that they should keep a record of how they spend it and publish the accounts on a public website.
We should be able to trust our politicians to represent their electorate to the best of their ability. Our trust will increase if their accountability increases.
I look forward to reading some more substantive replies from other than the GReens MLCs