Newstart Expenses

Stuff that cost more than the Newstart allowance:

In 2016 former prime minister John Howard claimed the equivalent of 21.5 years’ worth of Newstart allowance in expenses

Tony Abbott claimed more than 37 years’ worth

Peter Dutton claimed more than 55 years’ worth

Scott Morrison claimed more than 61 years’ worth

Malcolm Turnbull claimed more than 105 years’ worth

Julie Bishop claimed nearly 113 years’ worth

According to the Federal Budget, the cost of maintaining our 226 Federal MPs in 2015/16 was 36,120 years’ worth of Newstart allowance

The fossil fuel industry in Australia receives the equivalent of more than 350,000 years’ worth of Newstart payments in annual subsidies

The estimated cost of tax evasion in Australia each year is somewhere between 399,000 and 427,500 years’ worth of Newstart payments

On average, a federal MP costs the equivalent of 156.75 years’ worth of Newstart payments each year

Former federal MPs entitlements cost the equivalent of 2,138 years’ worth of Newstart allowance annually

The Newstart allowance has not increased in real terms in over two decades

Two decades ago the base salary of a federal MP was twice the average wage, today it is nearly three times the average wage

Oh, and the chap in the photograph, Human Services minister Alan Tudge, claimed about 39 years' worth of Newstart allowance in expenses last year.