3. Disclose the costs of operating political offices
Australian Conservatives believe that every citizen should be able to see how politicians spend taxpayers’ money. All publicly funded expenditure incurred in supporting a parliamentarian whilst in office should be made publicly available in real time. 4. Public database of government spending
Australian Conservatives support introducing a publicly available, easily searchable database of spending across the whole of government as a means of improving transparency and accountability of public spending.
7. A Pay Freeze for Politicians and Senior Public Servants
Those who formulate and implement public policy must be held accountable for the outcomes of their policies and we will continue to push for a freeze on politicians’ and executive-level public servants’ pay until the budget returns to surplus.
Governments should spend taxpayer dollars wisely to minimise the size, scope and waste associated with government.
We commit to methodically reducing Federal government spending to less than 20% of GDP to pay off debt and reduce taxation.
We support zero-based budgeting across the forward estimates. This entails having every expense justified on a rolling basis every four years, based on demonstrable needs, costs and outcomes. To achieve this, we will undertake a line-by-line assessment of all government spending based on two guiding principles:
If we were starting afresh, would we do this again?
If so, are there any better and more efficient ways to do it?
To facilitate this approach, we propose sunset clauses for all legislated government programs, requiring them to be resubmitted to Parliament for appraisal and re-approval every four years.
