Retired federal politicians have failed in their bid to claw even bigger retirement pensions and more free travel from taxpayers.
The High Court has dismissed a challenge brought by four former MPs – Labor's Barry Cunningham, Tony Lamb and Barry Cohen, and Liberal John Moore – that would have resulted in a big boost to the already generous entitlements given to about 350 retired politicians.
Not only has the case failed but the plaintiffs have been ordered to pay the costs of the long-running case - estimated to be many thousands of dollars.
The four men used section 51 of the constitution – made famous in the Aussie comedy classic The Castle – to challenge recent changes to the law that have slowed the growth of their retirement allowances and limited the number of trips they can take on the Life Gold Pass.
The men claimed the changes constituted an unlawful acquisition of their property by the Commonwealth, which is the same argument the Kerrigan family used to fend off developers who wanted to take their home to extend an airport in the 1997 film.
Had the High Court ruled in their favour the decision would have benefited about 350 former MPs - including recently retired politicians like Bronwyn Bishop – and 100 spouses. That would have added millions to the $40 million pension bill taxpayers already pick up each year.
But the court unanimously agreed that the changes to retirement allowances were lawful and "did not constitute an acquisition of property" because the entitlements were "inherently liable to variation". A majority also ruled against their arguments on the Life Gold Pass.
Most MPs who entered Parliament before 2004 are entitled to generous pensions under a defined benefits scheme, which pays them around $120,000 a year – regardless of how much they contributed to their fund. Those who occupied senior positions like the Speaker's chair get even more: Mrs Bishop gets an estimated $255,000 a year.
The four plaintiffs already collect between $80,000 and $120,000 from the taxpayer every year, not including generous bonuses for ministerial or committee service.
But not content with that, they argued their allowances should be based on a percentage of the full salary of current backbench MPs, which is about $200,000. Under Gillard government changes, their allowances are instead based on a percentage of pre-2011 salaries – about $154,000.
The men also wanted a return of the Life Gold Pass, which entitled them to take an unlimited number of domestic flights at public expense. Changes in 2012 limited the scheme to 10 return flights a year.
In its submissions to the court, the government pointed out that each man had already received vastly more in retiring allowance than they had contributed to their funds.
It singled out Mr Lamb, revealing he paid just $35,297 into his super account during his nine-year parliamentary career – but has so far been paid $1.3 million in retirement benefits.
While the pension scheme is not available to anyone elected after 2004, more than 187,000 Australians have signed an online petition this year calling for it to be scrapped altogether.
Mr Cohen was a minister in the Hawke government and Mr Moore was a minister in the Fraser and Howard governments. Mr Cunningham and Mr Lamb were both Labor backbenchers.
