Clover Moore’s lavish perks increased to include business-class flights and chauffeur-driven car

LORD Mayor Clover Moore will be allowed a whopping 22 full-time staff, almost as many as the NSW Premier, under a new entitlements policy.

The draft entitlements policy is due to be debated next week.

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LORD Mayor Clover Moore will be allowed a whopping 22 full-time staff — almost as many as the NSW Premier — under a new entitlements policy that continues or increases her lavish perks, including business-class flights and a chauffeur-driven car.

Other City of Sydney councillors will also enjoy enviable ratepayer-funded allowances under the new policy, including first-class train travel, free mobile phones, internet and iPads, plus $3000 for refreshments. The money can be used to fill councillors’ office fridges.

But Ms Moore gets more.

She will be entitled to double the number of Christmas cards (1200) other City councillors get and a $3000 postage allowance, instead of the $1500 other councillors receive. Some Western Sydney councillors get just $50 for postage.

“With over 200,000 residents and 1.2 million visitors in the city each day, a Christmas card allowance of 1200 cards is not unreasonable,” Ms Moore’s spokesman said.

Clover Moore will be entitled to a $3000 postage allowance, instead of the $1500 other councillors receive.

Never backwards in coming forwards, last Christmas Ms Moore sent out large cards featuring a big picture of herself on the front, boasting about all the work she’s done.

The Lord Mayor will also be allowed up to 22 full-time staff in 2017-18. Latest figures show NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s office had 30 staff in December 2016, while the Deputy Premier had 10.

“It’s time Clover Moore stopped wasting her ratepayers’ hard-earned cash,” Liberal councillor Christine Forster said. “She’s a full-time politician and should be able to discharge her duties without 22 people to hold her hand.”

CHAUFFEUR-DRIVEN DOGS

Labor’s Linda Scott added: “The Lord Mayor’s insistence on using public moneys to hire exorbitant numbers of political staff undermines the public trust.”

The draft entitlements policy, due to be debated next week, continues the Lord Mayor’s access to a chauffeur-driven car and a fuel card, despite the fact she recently launched a publicity campaign demanding everyone walk to work.

City of Sydney said Ms Moore gets more as she’s so important. “The Lord Mayor’s budget and staff … (need to) be carried out at a standard you’d expect from a leading global city,” her spokesman said.