From calling his opponent a bollard to shutting parliament for an extended period, Johnson has pushed the limits of the ‘good chaps school of government’.
Given the effort politicians and their advisers commit to directing public funds to marginal electorates, an observer would think the returns would be substantial.
What can the new Speaker do to restore the Australian public’s faith in the office – and in MPs more broadly – after Bronwyn Bishop’s resignation due to a series of lavish entitlement claims?
‘Better Communities’ funding is supposedly non-partisan: every electorate gets $300,000 for local projects. But only incumbent MPs have a say in this spending and 60% of them are government members.
The Accountability Round Table (ART), a non-partisan organisation, wrote to the three major political parties two months ago seeking their position on three important arms of Victoria’s integrity system…
Independent MP Geoff Shaw should be grateful the opposition is only proposing to expel him from Victorian state parliament. It could be worse. Victoria’s Legislative Assembly still has the power to lock…
Federal politicians can rack up relatively large bills in going about their day-to-day duties. In the last six months of 2012, Julia Gillard had allowances totalling A$647,000 – that’s nearly three times…
The recent revelations around the inappropriate use of travel entitlements by federal MPs reflect a broader problem of the lack of accountability in parliamentarians’ public life. But this scandal is nothing…