Bob Carr, former NSW Premier and soon to become Foreign Minister, is taking a big cut in salary in accepting his "dream job". Mr Carr, who will fill the vacancy left by Mark Arbib in the Senate, will earn considerably less as Foreign Minister when compared to his employment in the private sector and entitlements earned by previous state Premiers. As ex Premier, he receives entitlements for travel, a car and driver, a city office and staff and telephone costs which amounted to around $460,000 a year. After he is appointed to the Senate this week, Mr Carr will no longer be eligible and has employed a QC to go through his affairs and relinquish anything he’s not entitled to.
Bob Carr might be Labor man but he has lots of Liberal friends, including broadcaster Alan Jones. As a guest on his show this morning, they were chatting away like old mates, and the mutual respect was obvious. Liberal Premier Barry O'Farrell paid tribute to Carr's appointment on Twitter saying "No-one can deny his depth of knowledge of the portfolio." During his 10 years as premier, net debt was reduced from 7.4 per cent of gross state product to zero. He also counts Henry Kissinger as one of his best friends.
At his shock appearance at the press conference with Julia Gillard on Friday, regarding his age, he likened himself to the late US senator Robert Byrd who died in office at age 92. But recently he made a very inappropriate comment about the Dalai Lama in his blog which has since been removed. He said he was a "cunning monk rather than a holy man.”
So it seems this civil-war buff and voracious bookworm has kudos in spades. We just have to wait and see how good he really is.
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