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Pre-election anger as taxpayers foot the bill for politicians' TV ads
Australian Financial Review Feb 27, 2019 5.48pm
Andrew Tillett
Coalition MPs will have a $22 million war chest to air TV and radio advertisements after the Morrison government quietly tweaked the rules to expand the use of their taxpayer-funded budgets for their offices.
As Labor threatened to make MPs repay money if the change was not reversed, the government defended the move, saying it would end an anomaly and allow rural MPs to better communicate with constituents.
The fresh controversy over politicians' perks comes as new figures show spending on advertising campaigns spruiking government policies over the past year has already soared past $250 million less than three months from polling day.
Campaigns have included promoting tax cuts, school funding and energy policy, costing taxpayers $600,000 a day, or $25,000 an hour between the beginning of last year and now, according to tender records collated by the Opposition.
The government this week made changes to the regulations governing office expenses for MPs, repealing a ban on using their budgets to produce and broadcast TV and radio ads.
Currently, the 150 federal House of Representative MPs have an annual office budget of $136,647.23, plus a "distribution component" of $1.019 for each voter enrolled in their seat. For many MPs this is worth an extra $110,000 a year, based on the average number of voters per electorate.
For 76 senators, their office budget is $109,370.53. These amounts are indexed each year.
Parliamentarians can use their office budgets for printing, preparing newsletters, producing electronic material, maintaining websites, stationary and office supplies and buying flags for constituents.
'Level the playing field'
The regulations explicitly stated: "Office expenses must not be used to pay for production or placement of content for broadcasting on television or radio."
Special Minister of State Alex Hawke said there was no change to the total amount MPs could spend on communications but the new rules would level the playing field for regional TV and radio stations.
"Currently, parliamentarians can spend money communicating with constituents on social media, sending money offshore to companies like Facebook in Ireland, but they can't spend it on television and radio in Australia," he said.
"By fighting overdue modernisation of the system Labor have showed that they don't understand rural and regional Australia and that they don't care about local economies.
"As per the current system the ultimate responsibility for how these are spent is a judgment for the individual member and senator."
Labor said based on the current number of 104 Coalition MPs and senators, that would give them potentially $22 million to spend on TV and radio advertisements.
Labor has ruled out taking advantage of the new rules, with Deputy Leader Tanya Plibersek committing the Opposition to moving a disallowance motion when Parliament resumes in April to overturn them.
"If we can't stop it through the Parliament we'll make people pay back the money," she said.
"Members of Parliament should not be using taxpayer funds to run political ads. Full stop. We'll stop it. If we can't stop it we'll make them repay what they've spent."
