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Anorak News | Twitter and Facebook earn Julia Gillard massive pay rise

Twitter and Facebook earn Julia Gillard massive pay rise

by | 15th, December 2011

IN Australia, Julia Gillard is getting a pay rise. And not only her but also lots of other national MPs. Gillard will earn Aus$481,000 (US$476,000). What you British politicos want to know is how she managed it – and what you need to do to earn enough to buy duck houses and porn. Well, get into twitter and Facebook. That stuff pays big:

Julia Gillard and other federal MPs have secured a massive 32 per cent pay rise – and apparently Facebook and Twitter are to blame …

John Conde, the Remuneration Tribunal head and a long-standing advocate of higher wages for federal MPs, said the pay rise reflected the more onerous responsibilities faced by the nation’s 226 elected representatives in today’s 24/7 landscape.

“Email, Facebook, Twitter and the like have increased community expectations on members as regards their availability to their constituents,” the tribunal said.

Over to you, Paul Goodman (former Tory MP), who is on twitter and complains on Conservative Home that now the shock of greedy MPs ripping off the taxpayer has receded into history it’s time to give the elected elite more cash:

By any ordinary standard, MPs’ pay is high: they are in the top three per cent of earners.  However, Tory MPs in particular don’t use this as a measurement.  They look instead at what their contemporaries are earning in business.  Families hauled into the Westminster – and constituency – village don’t always like it there…Those who want to see a low-turnover Commons should therefore see sense in his proposal to replace receipted expenses with flat-rate allowances…

Who was it who said “We’re all in this together?” Yep, it was Paul Goodman’s boss, David Cameron…



Posted: 15th, December 2011 | In: Politicians Comment | TrackBack | Permalink