The ACT Liberals are way ahead of the pack on sending Christmas cards to Canberrans, with Liberals' deputy leader Alistair Coe sending a heroic 45,000 "calendar cards" to constituents in December and another 2000 greeting cards the month before. The cost is borne by the taxpayer.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Mr Coe, elected to the Assembly at just 24 (now 30), sends 21st birthday cards to constituents, again paid for out of his Assembly office allocation.
He justifies the expenditure as legitimate use of his office funds, and members of both sides routinely use the money for sending cards and letters to voters - although Labor parliamentarians appear considerably more frugal with cards than the Liberals.
ACT parliamentarians (ministers are treated separately) get $9800 a year for office expenses – printing, postage and extra equipment. They're not allowed to use it on election campaigning or party political activities, but in practice, the distinction can be blurred. And the Remuneration Tribunal has pointed out that the pot of money tends to be saved up (25 per cent can be rolled over into the next year) for election years. It raises an eyebrow at the description of the entitlement.
"The use of the word "discretionary" in any allowance that specifies what it can and cannot be used for immediately rings alarm bells," the tribunal says, in its recent review of Members' pay.
Assembly members must report every six months on how they spend the money, with the reports online at parliament.act.gov.au/members/entitlement-reporting It is routinely used for greeting cards on both sides, but at least in reported spending, Mr Coe leads the pack. In the most recent report, he spent $440 on 2000 greeting cards in November, and $1400 on 45,000 calendar cards in December. These are small calendars of the type you can put on the fridge with his name and photo on the top. He had them printed locally at Homestead Press in Queanbeyan. He also spent $1009 on postage in December (plus another $1000 on postage in the six months).
Liberal colleague Andrew Wall bought 4000 cards ($560), Leader Jeremy Hanson 1000 cards ($498), Steve Doszpot 500 cards ($1080; he also printed and delivered a brochure in the period ($2962), Brendan Smyth 500 cards ($848), Nicole Lawder 500 cards ($498), plus another 2000 greeting cards in August ($891). Giulia Jones appears to have bucked the trend.
On the Labor side, Christmas cards are apparently not the thing. Labor backbencher Yvette Berry bought just 70 Christmas cards ($54), Mary Porter 168 ($174), Mick Gentleman 288 ($218; Mr Gentleman also had brochure made in July, 1500 copies, $635, and 5000 postcards in October, $704), and Chris Bourke has declared none at all. Ministerial spending is not reported.
Mr Coe said judging by the emails and tweets he received in response, people liked receiving his cards. His annual calendars were useful, he said, with emergency numbers on the back. And the cards and calendars promoted the Cranleigh special school in Holt, whose artwork he uses.
"There's a case to be made for MLAs to be able to communicate with their electorate," he said. "And whether that's through posted letters, unaddressed mail or emails, whatever form of communication, it's right and proper for members to do it." "Shame on them," was Mr Hanson's response when asked about the disparity between Labor and Liberal. He defended cards as a valuable way of staying in touch with voters, along with other strategies like the Liberals' Friday shopping centre meetings. "We should as MLAs take every opportunity to be in contact with our constituents," he said.
