It's taken months, but we finally know that a backbencher gets a total package around $180,000. Revealing those sort of details is the only way to bring the rules and public expectation back into line
Dr Lockwood Smith must be torn apart by all the fuss over MPs' perks. He believes passionately that the MP's life is a fraught one, burdened with a rare amount of stresses, strains and separations. Yet it was he who had the courage to open MPs' expenses and allowances to public scrutiny, which he now says is adding to the stress of MPs' families. It must feel rather bittersweet at this point.
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