Qld Govt breaks own laws by refusing to pass on MP pay rise

Updated May 27, 2013 15:57:00

The Queensland Government is refusing to pass on a $50,000 pay rise to MP's. Queensland Treasurer Tim Nicholls says while it means the Government is breaking the law, it cannot afford the move. Victorian Senator John Madigan supports the Queensland Government decision, and has decided to give away his own pay rise to provide training equipment to students.

Source: The World Today | Duration: 4min 42sec

Topics: states-and-territories, qld


EMILY BOURKE: The Queensland Government is trying to block state MPs from getting a $50,000 pay rise.

The Queensland Treasurer Tim Nicholls says while the Government's breaking the laws on wage rates, it says it cannot afford the higher salaries.

There's resistance to higher pay-packets for politicians in federal circles too with the Democratic Labor Party Senator John Madigan vowing to give away his pay increase to provide training equipment to school students.

He says he supports the Government's decision in Queensland.

As Nance Haxton reports.

NANCE HAXTON: The popular image of our MP's is with their noses in the proverbial trough.

But in Queensland the Government is turning that on its head by refusing to pass on a $50,000 pay rise.

It means the Government is in breach of its own legislation, which ties state MPs' salaries to their federal counterparts.

The Remuneration Tribunal decided to increase the pay of federal parliamentarians last year, by an extra $50,000 - taking the base salary to just over $190,000 a year.

Queensland Treasurer Tim Nicholls says the pay rise is not a priority for the Government, even though they know they are breaking the law by not passing it on.

TIM NICHOLLS: Yeah, at the moment that's the case. Fortunately for the Governments there's no sanction for not breaking that law at the moment. So what we're doing is continuing to monitor the situation.

Look, we will get to it in due course, but it's not something that is top of priorities at the moment when we've got a budget that's being formulated in very difficult circumstances.

NANCE HAXTON: Former premier Anna Bligh froze MPs' pay packets and they haven't risen since 2011.

Mr Nicholls told ABC Radio's morning program they have no plans to change that until the long-awaited decision is made on public sector wage rises in the Queensland Industrial Relations Tribunal.

TIM NICHOLLS: I think most backbenchers serve because they want to represent their communities, they don't do it because of the pay. And, I think you've seen that because people continue to put their names forward to represent their communities.

NANCE HAXTON: His views brought a mixed response from the public.

VOX POP: Yeah, ministers are doing it for the love of the job and love of the community. So put their money where their mouth is, lower their wages down to the average wage for the constituents and make them work for their job instead of getting ridiculous sums of money.

VOX POP II: If this is what international standards are, then yes, I think they should take it. Now, if they don't represent me particularly well, I don't particularly like our current Government, but even still, I think if this is what international standards are, we should be attracting the best and the brightest and we should be paying fairly for them.

NANCE HAXTON: Democratic Labor Party Senator John Madigan is a Victorian Senator who has refused to accept the pay rise.

He was so outraged by the increase that he decided to use the $30,000 he was left with after tax, for Australian-made equipment in agricultural and trade schools.

He says he agrees with the Queensland Government's decision not to pass the pay rise on.

JOHN MADIGAN: Not all wars are just, so in this case, I find myself agreeing with the Queensland Government on this stand. Maybe the Queensland Government, on this issue, is more in touch with what the general community's feeling.

NANCE HAXTON: Senator Madigan says the increase is more than many people earn in a year, and shows how out of touch the Remuneration Tribunal is.

JOHN MADIGAN: We need to be giving young people, young adults, children, hope and encouragement. We just continually hear all the negatives in the media. You know, only last week with Ford's announcement, things are changing, we've got to adapt, but not adapt and react when things go wrong. But we need to be proactive and not reactive.

NANCE HAXTON: Does it point for a need for reform in the way the Remuneration Tribunal operates?

JOHN MADIGAN: I've heard time and time again if we're going to attract the right calibre of people to the Parliament, what's the old adage, "If you pay peanuts, you get donkeys." Well, I didn't know that running for parliament was only about how much you get. I thought it was about what you can contribute to make people's lives better, our community's lives better.

And how we can help our manufacturers. how we encourage our farmers, our food processors. How do we build strong, resilient, happy communities.

We, as politicians, local government, state government, federal government, are elected by people. We weren't elected by corporations and we're here to serve the people.

EMILY BOURKE: That's Victorian DLP Senator John Madigan, ending Nance Haxton's report.