It's the parliamentary perk that just will not die.
Two-and-a-half years after the Coalition announced it would axe the controversial Life Gold Pass – which gives retired politicians free business-class travel on the taxpayer – the plan has been put on the backburner once again.
The Turnbull government says it's too busy to follow through on its pledge to put the perk back on the chopping block by the end of the year.
Special Minister of State Scott Ryan said last month he planned to reintroduce the Abbott government-era bill to kill off the controversial entitlement before Parliament rose for the Christmas break.
But now with just four sitting days remaining, Senator Ryan concedes it's unlikely the bill will emerge – even though it would sail through both chambers with the support of Labor, the Greens and the crossbench.
"It is likely the introduction of the Parliamentary Entitlements Legislation Amendment Bill will be delayed until early 2017," a spokesman for Senator Ryan said. "Due to the government's busy legislative agenda it may not be possible to progress this legislation within the final days remaining in this parliamentary year."
Tony Abbott announced plans to scrap the Life Gold Pass in his 2014 budget to show that the "age of entitlement" was over for everyone – even former MPs. The changes would kick about 200 former MPs off the scheme, saving about $1.5 million a year.
The bill passed the lower house with bipartisan support but then stalled in the Senate. It then lapsed at the July election.
If the bill does come back in the first half of 2017 it will have been about three years from announcement to vote – even though it supposedly enjoys the support of pretty much everyone in Parliament.
It's believed a High Court case in which four former MPs challenged the constitutionality of changes to post-Parliament payments was one of the reasons the government put the bill on the go-slow.
However the court last month emphatically rejected the case.
The Life Gold Pass once offered former MPs unlimited travel at taxpayers' expense.
Changes in 2002 limited that to 25 return flights a year and further changes in 2012 limited it to 10 return flights.
The Gillard government scrapped it for MPs retiring after 2012 and the new bill would abolish it for all except former prime ministers by 2020.
South Australian crossbench senator Nick Xenophon said he didn't buy the government's explanation it was too busy.
"That's a lame excuse. It's a bit like me saying I'm too busy to consider the government's bills," he said. "This is a no-brainer."
Greens democracy spokeswoman Lee Rhiannon said the delay was disgraceful and left her wondering whether the "elitist, embarrassing and fundamentally unfair" scheme would ever be scrapped.
"Given the tripartisan support for this legislation, it would be a quick, easy and popular bill to bring on and pass," she said.
"This is a classic snouts in the trough scheme, and the government can no longer blame the now resolved High Court case for delaying its introduction."
