Victorian politicians to pocket yet another pay rise

Daniel Andrews will be the highest paid state leader in Australia, when Victorian politicians enjoy yet another pay rise this week.

Victorian politicians will enjoy yet another pay rise from next month, with the Premier’s salary hitting almost $465,000 a year, making him the highest paid state leader in Australia.

Victoria’s independent Remuneration Tribunal decided the yearly base and additional salaries of MPs, and their ­expense allowances, would lift by 2.75 per cent from July 1.

It will mean each of the 128 Victorian MPs will receive ­annual incomes of more than $192,000 – about a $5000 ­increase on 2021-22. Daniel Andrews will take home $464,918, including up to $58,435 in expenses and allowances, while his incoming deputy Jacinta Allan will earn almost $400,000.

It comes a day before the latest Andrews ministry – which includes five new ministers – is sworn in.

The take-home pay for ministers is now more than $370,000 including allowances, while cabinet secretaries will earn an extra $80,000. on top of their base MP salaries.

Opposition Leader Matthew Guy will receive the same as a government minister.

Premier Daniel Andrews is set to pocket close to $500,000 a year. Picture: Brendan Beckett

New speaker of the lower house Maree Edwards and president of the upper house Nazih Elasmar will get ­almost $150,000 extra.

State politicians received pay rises in June 2021 when many small businesses had to shut their doors due to harsh restrictions imposed during the pandemic.

Most MPs last year publicly pledged to donate their increases to charity but the Premier and Mr Guy on Sunday refused to say if they planned to donate these increases.

“(Wife) Cath and I donate to lots of different causes and we normally do that without any fanfare or any show,” Mr Andrews said.

“That’s our private business, we do that and we’re very pleased to do that.

“I think over the journey, we’ve probably donated and contributed to different things well in excess of any one individual pay rise.”

Mr Andrews spruiked government initiatives like free kindergarten and power-saving bonuses to drive down living costs.

But asked if it passed the pub test for politicians to be rewarded with another pay rise while many in the community struggled through the cost of living crunch, he said: “There’s lots of different ways you can support people with the cost of living and we’re getting on and doing it.”

He added: “We’ll have more to say about those things in the lead up to the end of the year.”

Opposition leader Matthew Guy has refused to explicitly say whether he will donate his upcoming pay rise to charity.

Mr Guy’s comments on Monday echo those made by the Premier a day earlier.

“My wife and I donate a lot to community events and I’ll continue to do that, probably a lot more than what one payrise is worth,” Mr Guy said.

“Politicians shouldn’t be in charge of setting politicians wages and now they’re not.

“If they (Independent Remuneration Tribunal) make their decision, we have to deal with that.

“I donate more to charity than that payrise is worth and we’ll continue to do so.”

Asked if it was appropriate for politicians to boost their pay packets when many Victorians struggled to pay their bills and put food on the table, Mr Guy said: “I’ll let you make all those assessments and commentaries.”

Small Business Australia executive director Bill Lang said Victorian politicians should “reject this pay rise outright. If we are assessing their ­renumeration based against performance what we should be discussing is a pay cut,” he said.

Mr Lang, who helped establish the Victorians Party, said his party would try to freeze the wages of politicians and senior public servants for the next parliamentary term if elected in November.

Party leader Ingrid Maynard said it was inappropriate for politicians to accept pay rises when so many in the community were struggling.

Originally published as Victorian politicians to pocket yet another pay rise