Moves to reign in MPs' pay don't go far enough - Greens

August 27, 2019

Today the Government announced a bill to prevent ‘unacceptably high’ pay rises for MPs.

Moves to reign in MPs' pay packets have been slammed by the Greens who say they don't go far enough.  

MPs' salaries have been frozen for the past year while the Government reviewed the system. 

Now the Government plans to put pay rises back in the hands of the Remuneration Authority. 

The annual pay rise has prompted concern.

Attempts to fix it in 2015 only made it worse, with MPs' wages rising by at least $10,000 in the last three years, much higher than the average worker.

Workplace Relations Minister Iain Lees Galloway says taxpayers have "absolutely not" been getting ripped by MPs' pay.

"But they have been tracking higher than CPI [Consumer Price Index] and higher than other occupations," he said.

Today the Government has reverted to the old pay increase formula, leaving the Remuneration Authority to decide, and leaving the Green Party disappointed.

"We tried really hard. We wanted a dollar amount increase in line with everyone else's median wage," said Marama Davidson, Green Party co-leader.

Mr Lees-Galloway has defended the move.

"The Remuneration Authority means that we're more likely to get a level of pay set for Members of Parliament that is acceptable to the public," he said.

The Government will be pushing that argument as the bill outlining changes comes up in Parliament tomorrow.

National MP Gerry Brownlee says it's a matter of trying to get a pay setting that works.

"There's a big group of people out there who think that MPs are overpaid, another group who think we shouldn't be paid anything. You've just got to try and get something in the middle that'll work," he said.

Current salaries, set in 2016, have the Prime Minister on $459,739 a year, the Deputy Prime Minister on just under $326,697 and the Leader of the Opposition on nearly $288,900. 

A minister in Cabinet is also paid $288,900, while a backbench MP at the lowest end of the scale gets $160,024. 

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