Since 1999, the Greens have been campaigning to end politician's perks such as the overly generous MP's superannuation package.  In March 2004 the Premier suddenly announced that MP's superannuation payouts would be brought in line with community expectations at around 9%. This is a win for the Greens and the community.

Lee Rhiannon welcomed the major parties' new found commitment to clean up the overly generous MP super scheme, and called for this change of heart to be extended to other political perks.  We continue to monitor MPs pay and entitlements to keep the pressure on the Government.

History of the Greens' campaign:

Transcripts of Lee speaking in Parliament:

PARLIAMENTARY CONTRIBUTORY SUPERANNUATION AMENDMENT BILL
30/11/1999
(scroll down to page 3793)

SUPERANNUATION LEGISLATION FURTHER AMENDMENT BILL
25/11/1999
(scroll down to page 3679)

Media excerpts quoting Lee Rhiannon on MPs perks:

The world today - NSW MP's vote themselves a pay rise 7/12/2001

Daily Telegraph 30/12/2003 - MPs super rort:
"Greens MP Lee Rhiannon said the politician's scheme should be scrapped and politicians should be put in the State Super scheme used by most public servants. She said the burden on taxpayers was just going to get worse."

Sun Herald 3/11/2002 - A Special Investigation into MPs Superannuation, p5:
"Only one of state Parliament's 135 MPs, the Greens' Lee Rhiannon, criticised the scheme saying: "MPs have a super fund which is way in excess of what ordinary workers have. It provides a golden handshake to MPs and needs ... to be brought into line with the rest of the community."."

Daily Telegraph 30/11/1999 - Leave our generous benefits say MPs:
"Greens MP Lee Rhiannon is leading a push to scrap parliamentary super altogether and force MPs into the same super scheme as other public sector workers. But her plan is doomed to fail, with the Government and Opposition set to vote together to block an further overhaul of benefits.

She provided the Daily Telegraph with modelling showing that the MPs scheme, when compared to standard employee schemes, costs taxpayers more than $61,000 a year for each MP.

Over a seven year period, a worker earning $35,000 a year contributes seven percent of their salary ($2450) to their super, with the employer contributing eight per cent ($2800). After seven years the worker has accrued $36,750 in super, for an annual pension of $2940.

On that same basis, an MP earning the base salary of $81,256 contributes 12.5 per cent ($71,183) over seven years. But after seven years they are entitled to an annual super payment of $39,701 funded through a taxpayer contribution of $428,817 or $61,259 a year.

"In other words, if this were an ordinary super fund, the NSW taxpayers would be contributing a whopping 75.3 per cent of an MP's salary as an annual contribution." Ms Rhiannon said. "Compare this with the average worker's eight per cent employer contribution and it's clear where the inequity lies."

Ms Rhiannon plans to attack the scheme in an address to Parliament today. She will tell parliament that the scheme needs to be scrapped to restore public faith in politicians."

(see above Hansard for transcipt of Lee's address in parliament)

Points from Greens flyer handed out during 2000 campaign:

What's wrong with the superannuation benefits for members of Parliament?
Members of the NSW Parliament benefit from one of the most generous supperannuation schemes in Austrlaia. State politicians can retire after only seven years and are then eligible to receive over $40,000 every year for the rest of their lives. These are entitlements the rest of us can only dream of. This super rort is possible because 75% of the payment comes from state revenue. Compare this to the 6-9% employer contribution received by the majority of workers.

Have any changes taken place?
Both Labor and the Liberal/National Coalition have failed to seriously reform parliamentary superannuation. In December 1999 the NSW Government buckled under pressure and agreed to stop superannuation benefits being paid to an MP before they turned 55 years of age. The Greens are committed to reforming parliamentary super to bring it in line with the benefits received by all other public employees.

What was the response of the Greens?
During parliamentary debate, The Greens developed three key amendments to strengthen the half hearted Labor reform:

1. That the Parliamentary Supperannuation Fund be abolished and all members of parliament join the First State Superannuation Fund (FSS). The FSS fund covers more than 37,000 public employees in NSW.

2. That members of parliament be provided with the choice to voluntarily opt out of the Parliamentary Superannuation Fund into the FSS scheme.

3. That if the Parliamentary Supperannuation scheme were going to survive, then the sceme should use ethical principles to determine which companies they invest in. The Parliamentary scheme currently invests in woodchipping, uranium mining and firms that exploit workers and the environment.

The Labor and Coalition parties failed to support any of these proposals.

What about other parites?
Neither the Democrats or any other parties supported The Greens proposals and failed to put forward any alternatives to the excessively generous parliamentary superannuation scheme. The Greens are committed to increasing public pressure on all parties in Parliament to reform parliamentary superannuation.

What can you do?
Public pressure is the only way to end pollies perks. We need to keep up the pressure. Tell the Treasurer that MPs should not receive extravagent benefits. They should only be entitled to the same superannuation that all other public employees receive.

Write to:
NSW Treasurer
Parliament House
Macquarie Street
SYDNEY 2000