Senator BOB BROWN (Leader of the Australian Greens) (10:28 AM) —I thank senators for their contribution. The argument from both the government and the opposition falls flat when we remember that just last year the Prime Minister ruled out a pay increase recommended by the Remuneration Tribunal.

Senator Parry —We want more independence, not less.

Senator BOB BROWN —I do not know what that interjection means, but it did not help much. The fact is that the Prime Minister overruled the Remuneration Tribunal, and members in this place raised no debate about it. Now we have this extraordinary $4,900 recommendation coming from the tribunal and members are saying that we must not intervene on that because it is an independent tribunal.

I ask this: is there any member present who was consulted about this increase, about the burden of electorate costs on us? If you ask me, the Remuneration Tribunal is working out of thin air. I do not know how they came to their deliberation, I do not know where the inquiry was, I do not know who was called before them and I certainly do not know who made the reference. Why on earth would a tribunal wait through eight good years and make no recommendation on increasing the electorate allowance and then, in the middle of a recession when everybody is pulling their belts in and hundreds of thousands of Australians are finding themselves with no job income at all, recommend that politicians get an extra $4,900, not to be necessarily directed to the electorate but to spend as they will? That is the other point here. It is to spend as politicians will, and some do not spend it on the electorate. I do not know; I think the Remuneration Tribunal itself needs looking at. I commend this disallowance motion to the Senate.

Question put: