Coalition split to shave tens of thousands of Nationals’ pay

David Littleproud is among senior Nationals MPs facing a very steep pay cut after the sensational collapse of the Coalition.

David Littleproud is among nine senior National Party parliamentarians facing a steep pay cut worth tens of thousands after the collapse of the Coalition.

The Nationals leader on Tuesday broke the news that he and Liberal Party counterpart Sussan Ley had failed to strike a new Coalition deal, breaching the arrangement for just the fourth time in its 79-year history.

Mr Littleproud and his leadership team have stressed the decision was a matter of principle and dismissed concerns they would be unable to prosecute their agenda without the Liberal Party.

But losing sway in parliament comes with a demotion to the backbench, and a significant salary reduction to boot.

The Nationals ministers previously a part of the shadow and outer shadow ministry will face an almost 60k cut in their salary. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Base pay for MPs and senators was lifted to $233,660 last year after they gave themselves a 3.5 per cent wage rise.

Shadow ministers are entitled to 20-25 per cent extra, according to official guidelines.

That works out at $46,732 for a parliamentarian in the outer shadow ministry and $58,415 for those in shadow cabinet.

Those getting the boot off shadow ministry money are Mr Littleproud, Kevin Hogan, Bridget McKenzie, Barnaby Joyce, Susan McDonald, Michelle Landry, Darren Chester, Pat Conaghan, Michael McCormack.

While he will lose the ministerial stipend, Mr Littleproud stood to fare better than his colleagues.

As the leader of a minor party with more than 10 MPs, he will retain a 45 per cent bump, which equates to $105,147.

Meanwhile, the party’s whip and deputy whip will get an extra 12 per cent and 3 per cent, respectively, when they are decided.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has suggested the Liberal Party will need to share its staffers with the Nationals. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The demotion from part of the opposition to a minor party will also cut their entitlement to advisers.

As prime minister, Anthony Albanese has discretionary powers to divvy up staffers.

He tipped on Wednesday he would not award the Nationals more Commonwealth staffers, suggesting the Liberal Party would need to share.

“Obviously, we’ll give consideration to all of those matters,” Mr Albanese told reporters.

“But clearly, it is not reasonable that there be more staff that are awarded after what has occurred.

“So we’ll give consideration to it and I’ll have discussions with both Sussan Ley and David Littleproud about that as well as the crossbenchers.

“We haven’t sorted out ministerial staff yet, so there’s some time to go in that.”