Woodhouse Stacks Deck Against Taxpayers

26 OCTOBER 2016
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Taxpayers’ Union is slamming Michael Woodhouse for his failure to appoint a taxpayer representative to the Remuneration Authority after today’s announcement that academic Len Cook has been appointed to replace Angela Foulkes on the Authority.Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams, says:

“The Remuneration Authority enjoys constitutional privilege in its secret deliberations and is sheltered from the Official Information Act. Why is Mr Woodhouse so reluctant for there to be a taxpayer representative on the Authority? This would prevent repeats of decisions such as the one last year relating to an MPs backdated-pay hike which caused significant public backlash.”

“The whole point of the Remuneration Authority is to weigh up competing considerations of attracting talent and giving taxpayers value for money. How can the Authority credibly do that when all of its members are insiders and careerist bureaucrats?”

“Whilst no one would criticize Mr Cook’s suitability for the job, the question for the Minister is why he continues to ensure Remuneration Authority has no one to represent the interests of those who actually pay the salaries the Authority determine.”

ENDS

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