Bob Carr and Nick Greiner biggest offenders as past premiers' perks jump to more than $1m
Updated
NSW taxpayers are coughing up more than $1 million dollars a year providing offices, drivers, telephones and stationery for former premiers and governors.
Some of them left government decades ago, including former premiers Nick Greiner and Bob Carr.
Past premiers cost over $1 million from 2016-2017
Latest figures from the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet show Nick Greiner, who was premier 26 years ago, cost NSW $318,942 for the 2016-2017 financial year.
Mr Greiner — who is now a member of multiple company boards such as QBE Asia Pacific (where he is chairman), Rothschild Australia Limited and Crosby Textor, as well as being a consultant to Transurban Limited — had his office rent worth more than $192,000 paid for.
Former Labor premier Bob Carr cost NSW taxpayers $168,247 on office rent. While $123,000 was spent on staff salaries and $9000 on telephones.
In total the NSW Government paid out $1.132 million dollars on offices, salaries, drivers, transport, car parking, phones and other stationery for past premiers in 2016-2017.
Former premier John Fahey, who left state politics in 1996, spent $22,517 on car transport and telephones.
Costs have crept up over the past five years
Australian Taxpayers Alliance Director of Public Policy Satya Marar said it was "absolutely terrible" to see the "post office perks".
"Simply being a Governor or Premier of NSW does not give you licence to have your post office life, outside public office, funded by the taxpayer," she said.
Former premier Barry O'Farrell tried to axe the program in 2011 but faced heated legal opposition from Bob Carr and Nick Greiner.
In order to rein in ballooning costs — in 2011-2012 the total was $1.6m — Mr O'Farrell announced only premiers who had served five years or more could access the scheme.
It meant a number of Labor premiers missed out, as did Mike Baird and Mr O'Farrell himself.
By 2012-13 the scheme's total had dropped to $662,000 but it has slowly crept back up over the past five years.
Greens MP David Shoebridge said the Government was "cutting funding for National Parks and women's shelters" while it coughed up for former premiers' hire cars and offices.
"That's just wrong, they should be grateful for their pensions, especially given most of them also have lucrative corporate incomes," he said.
A spokeswoman from Premier Gladys Berejiklian's office said there were no plans to make any changes to the scheme.
Topics: government-and-politics, politics-and-government, political-parties, state-parliament, parliament, nsw, sydney-2000
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