A sprawling residence and estate nestled in the heart of Canberra. Another official residence in Sydney with premium harbour views. Servants. Staff. And now – thanks to the Albanese government – another $200,000 per year on top of the $500,000 you would already be making as Governor-General of Australia. It’s a sweet gig if you can get it.

In a cost-of-living crisis in which Australian households are struggling to put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads, this salary increase for incoming Governor-General Samantha Mostyn is obscene. Labor proposed it, and the Coalition agreed to it with no objections at all. One Nation, of course, voted against it.

The excuse? Because the previous Governor-General was getting a military pension. David Hurley has not only served as the Governor-General since 2019. He was also Governor of New South Wales, and before that he was a senior army officer with a 42-year military career, which included three years as Chief of the Defence Force. He gets paid a military pension because he well and truly earned it.

Hurley is an actual combat veteran, having been deployed to Somalia in 1993. Sam Mostyn – with a strong history of left-wing political activism – is a veteran only of culture wars. She’s done nothing to justify this obscene pay rise, and her activist history strongly risks politicising the office of the Governor-General.

Perhaps it takes a military person to do this job properly. Hurley, Sir Peter Cosgrove and Michael Jeffery were all good Governors-General, ensuring the office was not politicised during their terms. Other recent office holders such as Dame Quentin Bryce, Peter Hollingworth and Sir William Deane performed poorly and allowed the politicisation to happen. One Nation has no confidence that Mostyn will uphold the principles of the high office to which she has been appointed at enormous expense to Australian taxpayers.