The observation that politicians are at times out of touch with ordinary Australians is no revelation.
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Even so, just now and then, they can still knock our socks off with the depth of their disconnection from the average person.
Case in point, on more than one occasion it has to be said, has been Barnaby Joyce. The latest "you've got to be kidding Barnaby" moment is around the JobKeeper payment for the millions of Australians whose income has been savaged by the coronavirus.
No sooner has the first JobKeeper landed in the bank accounts of some Australians, just last week, and Barnaby Joyce is calling for the tap to be turned off. It's offensive to even talk about cutting off JobKeeper at this point, more so when the call comes from Barnaby Joyce. This is the man who, on an income of $211,000 a year, lived rent free for six months thanks to one of his rich mates.
At the time, Mr Joyce said he offered to pay the rent. But his mate said he didn't have to, the $14,000 in rent was a gift. If only we all had mates like that.
While New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her ministers put their hands up to take a 20 per cent pay cut, the suggestion Australia's politicians might do the same was met with what can only be described as a completely unsurprising lack of interest.
Our politicians won't struggle to feed their families, they won't lie awake at night wondering how to pay the mortgage or their rent, they won't have to dip into their superannuation and they won't have to worry about the mountain of debt that waits for them on the other side of this crisis. And thus, it would really be best if they stopped to consider their very privileged position - and who pays for it - before they suggest pulling the rug out from under the rest of us.
