Remember when reading this report that EVERY ex Prime Minister gets this deal. Kevin is NOT the first and will NOT be the last. Coming to mind of the PM's in my life since I have been aware of Government/Politics are... Gough Whitlam, Billy McMahon, John Gorton, Malcolm Fraser, Bob Hawke, Paul Keating and of course John Howard. All of these men, well those that are still in the land of the living, get the same benefits as Kevin is slated to get.
Why's Kevin Rudd smiling? He's getting $600,000 a year for life
By staff writers
From: news.com.au
June 30, 2010 DEPOSED prime minister Kevin Rudd will receive allowances of about $600,000 a year for the rest of his life when he leaves politics.As prime minister for more than a year he is entitled to superannuation, a gold air pass, a car, at least four personal staff and his own office in Brisbane for life.
If Mr Rudd lives to be 85, that would cost about $20 million, The Daily Telegraph reported.
Mr Rudd can expect to leave Parliament with a pension of between $118,346 and $145,987 a year, indexed for inflation.
Then there is the airline gold pass, worth about $60,000 a year, office space costing up to $120,000, four office staff costing about $262,000 and a car leased for around $18,000 a year.
New home
Five days after his political assassination, Mr Rudd, his wife Therese and daughter Jessica left the The Lodge yesterday. It was the quickest eviction imaginable. Most Australian renters would have more rights.
At dusk on a freezing Canberra day, a stoic former prime minister stood before cameras to say his last goodbyes to the nation.
"This has been our home for the better part of the last three years . . . our family home," Mr Rudd said. "It is the people's house and we return it gratefully to the people," he said.
Therese Rein and the former prime minister have also been using the social media website Twitter to offer supporters a little window on their own soul, well ahead of any sit down press interviews.
Last night, about 10.30pm Ms Rein used Twitter as soon as she arrvied back at the family home, “So… Back home in Norman Park. Welcomed home to a warm house filled with flowers, the kettle on, and hugs from a dear friend. Thank you!”
“Thank you to the photographers and cameramen this afternoon as we left the Lodge. The hugs really helped.
"We said 'bye to the staff at The Lodge. Hope to be able to cook for them one day soon.”
On June 28, she confessed the termination of her husband’s lifelong journey to the Lodge hurt her, too.
“I wouldn’t have made it through this difficult time without the support of our children. Telling stories. Reflecting. Hugs. More hugs,” she tweeted.
The family are going away for beach holiday Mr Rudd has said.
Ms Gillard said she would not move to The Lodge until winning an election as leader.
Gillard under pressure
Meanwhile, miners are demanding Ms Gillard go beyond a deal on the resource super-profits tax that was reached with Mr Rudd before he was removed as prime minister and include a significant increase in the threshold at which the levy kicks in, The Australian reports.
As cabinet yesterday considered a proposed deal to impose a lighter tax regime on the burgeoning coal-seam gas industry, Fortescue Metals Group chief Andrew Forrest said he had been in secret talks with Mr Rudd and Treasury officials on the release of an RSPT discussion paper until a day before Mr Rudd's removal.
He claimed the discussion paper, to have been circulated among the mining industry, would have included key changes to the RSPT, forecast to raise an extra $9 billion a year from the sector. These would have included lifting the threshold at which the tax kicks in from about 6 per cent to as much as 15 per cent, and abolishing the government guarantee over 40 per cent of a mining project's losses.
The changes would have reduced the impact of the tax on existing projects -- a key mining industry condition of any deal with the new Prime Minister.
Ms Gillard is expected to announce a new deal for coal-seam gas projects, particularly in Queensland, as early as today before a $5000-a head dinner for mining companies in Brisbane tonight.
'No snap poll'
As the mining talks continue, August 28 and October 10 have emerged as the most likely dates for a federal election, with senior Labor sources dismissing talk Prime Minister Julia Gillard may this weekend call a snap poll, The Daily Telegraph reports.
"That just isn't going to happen," said a senior Labor strategist in the Gillard camp.
The comment shot down claims made by Opposition treasury spokesman Joe Hockey, who said: "I expect this weekend or the following weekend at the latest. Gillard is about winning the election, not about good policy."
- With The Daily Telegraph and The Australian
http://www.news.com.au/feature.....913980#ixzz0sJnk24w9
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