Parliamentary Entitlements Legislation Amendment Bill 2017

The majority voted against a motion introduced by Australian Conservatives Senator Cory Bernardi (SA).

While the rest of the Liberal Party voted against the motion, Liberal Senator Ian Macdonald rebelled against his party and voted Yes.

This motion would limit the prime minister entitlements included in the Act to prime ministers who have been in the position for at least four consecutive years, which would exclude our three most recent former prime ministers: Tony Abbott, Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd.

Motion text

(1) Schedule 1, item 8, page 6 (after line 23), after the definition of Parliamentary Retirement Travel Entitlement, insert:

Prime Minister: see section 4AB.

(2) Schedule 1, item 9, page 7 (after line 5), after section 4AA, insert:

4AB Prime Ministers

For the purposes of this Act, a member is only taken to be the Prime Minister if the member has been the Prime Minister for a period of at least 4 consecutive years.