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Politicians may be set for a pay rise - should they get one?

November 29, 2023

They haven’t had a pay rise in six years – but one could be on the cards with the Remuneration Authority reviewing their pay. (Source: Breakfast)

Politicians could be set for a pay rise soon – with the Remuneration Authority reviewing government wages.

They haven’t had a pay rise in six years, but this could change depending on the outcome of the review.

Currently, the salary for an MP starts out at $163,961.

That jumps to $249,839 for a minister outside Cabinet and $296,007 for a Cabinet minister.

Meanwhile the role of deputy prime minister earns $334,734, and the top job as prime minister earns $471,049.

Remuneration Authority chair Geoff Summers told Breakfast he can’t reveal what the outcome of the review will be, but said their pay could be changing by April next year when it is concluded.

“With a review, we have to have all options on the table at the beginning, we’ve got no preconceptions.”

Summers said the review is the first time parliamentary salaries have been fully reviewed in 20 years, so it is “timely”.

“We will be starting from a Greenfields approach and saying ‘what should an MP, minister, Cabinet minister all the rest of it be paid today?’”

The law then requires the authority to look forward and predict what politicians should be paid in the next three years.

To help decide whether our politicians deserve a pay rise, Summers said the authority looks at other countries along with other criteria to help decide where politicians' pay should be.

When asked if the court of public opinion is in the authority’s criteria, Summers said it is not.

“Where we differ from MPs is they are in a popularity contest, and we are not. We will make the decision the law requires us to make, but saying a backbench MP doesn’t do much is not really correct.

“These are the legislators of New Zealand. The decisions that these people make, and they do a huge amount of work, they do long hours, and they impact the lives of every New Zealander with just about everything [they] do.

“They are pretty important to how our entire society runs, and we’ll take that into account as well, that is one of our criteria.”

Summers added if the country is facing a crisis such as a recession, they are able to override the criteria and make a lower decision.

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