KEY POINTS:
- Federal politicians are set for their biggest pay increase in a decade.
- Backbench MPs' base salary will rise to over $225,000.
- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is set for an annual salary boost of more than $20,000.
Federal politicians are set for their biggest pay rise in a decade.
The Remuneration Tribunal, an independent body, has ordered a 4 per cent boost to MPs' base salaries after what it described as ten years of “conservative” raises.
The decision means backbench MPs’ current annual salary of $217,060 is set to rise to $225,742.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will receive a boost of over $20,000 annually, with his salary rising to just under $587,000. As prime minister, he gets another 160 per cent on top of an MP's base salary.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton's salary will increase to $417,623. He receives another 85 per cent on top of the base salary.
Those figures do not include extensive travel allowances, which have also recently risen.
The tribunal said even factoring in the latest increase, federal politicians’ salaries had risen just 14.75 per cent since 2014, compared to a 23 per cent rise in the private sector more generally in that time.
“Remuneration data in general reflects a continued period of increasing wage growth across the economy,” it said.
“The Tribunal is aware the remuneration increases it has awarded to offices in its jurisdiction over the past decade have been conservative.”
The rise takes effect from 1 September this year.
