There's a lot of conundrums in it.Maybe I could get behind this argument if there was some minimum criteria for experience before being eligible to be an MP, and then the median salary was tied only to people in the electorate who meet that same minimum criteria.
Obviously the 1000s of teenagers working checkout or fast food matter and deserve a voice... but I don't reckon that extends to the bell curve of those who reasonably and realistically tick the boxes to make good decisions about running a country.
100% agree with:
Pay a good amount of money. Enough to pay a salary to lure an appropriately qualified person into the role and pay for all the staff and expenses that come with the role. And let each MP manage that lump sum themselves as they see fit.
No rewards for being clever enough to rort your expenses... the amount of money is yours either way so if you piss it up the wall it's yourself who loses not the taxpayer.
Extra budgets and allowances for formal roles as a minister, member of a committee, member of a cabinet, etc. but again a set allowance and a report on how the money was spent save for if there's a national interest in maintaining non-disclosure e.g. for security reasons (still disclosed cost within the budget if not the precise reason for spend).
For one thing, the degradation of prestige of being a pollie thanks to partisan politics, pork barrelling and rorting means that it's no longer seen as a position of esteem. So people don't do it out of the goodness of their hearts.
The insecurity of the job for many of them is also a factor. If you're an executive or manager in your 40's with enough life experience and intelligence to make a really good politician, you're probably already on $200k+ by the time you're 45- and with high job security and respected career. Who would trade that to run for a political party, tainted by partisanship and toe-ing the party line, having to vote against your conscience and then lie to justify it?
Only ordinary people would want to take that job on. If they've got kids, to understand the plight of families, this age is also the very wrong time to be away from your kids. Again, who would want to do that?