One of the few big moments of the 2019 election was when Tony Abbott, former PM, announced that his reign as the Member For Warringah had come to a close thanks to a successful campaign by independent candidate Zali Steggall.
And that was very exciting and everything. Except that it’s worth pointing out that Tony’s done very nicely out of the deal.
Very, very nicely. Like, $300k a year nicely.
See, while the generous parliamentary pensions were cut in 2004, the new system only applied to those who were elected after that point. Abbott entered parliament in 1994 and therefore gets the crazy generous original pension.
And it’s indexed not to his old salary, no no no. It’s the current rate for backbenchers. And so it goes up every time the parliament votes itself a pay rise. So he’s lost his salary of around $207,000 a year as a backbencher, but with the bonuses that his many parliamentary roles accords him, his free annual money is something more like $295,720, according to SBS’s cited researcher William Summers.
And this comes amid calls for Morrison to find Abbott a nice gig where he can use his talents – like an ambassadorship, or some other juicy high-pay-low-action sinecure as yet another gift from a grateful nation.
So yes, Abbott’s lost his job. And scored a massive payrise in the bargain.