It turns out that losing an election can be financially rewarding. Ex-prime minister John Howard will get an annual pension of $345,000 a year in retirement. This is around $15,000 a year more than he earned as prime minister. He also has the option to take a $1.5 million lump sum payout, and get a reduced pension of about $170,000.
Another person who has turned making money out of losing elections into an art form is the former One Nation party leader, Pauline Hanson. She looks likely to achieve the 4% share of the Queensland Senate vote required to get electoral funding for "costs". In 2004 Hanson got $200,000 to cover the costs of her failed Senate campaign which cost just $35,426 - netting her a profit of around $165,000 for nominating and running a low-budget election campaign for less than two months. This time she is likely to make even more out of losing the election. Of course, if she'd won she would have received this funding and had a well-paid eight year term in the Senate.
Copyright Enough Wealth 2007
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