Coronavirus: Scott Morrison stands firm against calls for MPs’ pay cut

Scott Morrison is resisting a pay cut for politicians and public servants, but MPs admit they may have to tighten their own belts.

Scott Morrison in Canberra on Thursday. Picture: AAP

Scott Morrison is resisting a pay cut for politicians and public servants, but MPs admit they may have to tighten their own belts to share the pain of the coronavirus pandemic.

Federal politicians, senior public servants, judges and ministerial staffers are already set to have their pay frozen until the pandemic lifts following an intervention by Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, but calls are growing for a cut in MPs’ salaries.

The Prime Minister said on Tuesday that the federal government would have to find ways of paying for his COVID-19 economic rescue packages — totalling more than $200bn in fiscal terms — and that a pay freeze was the best option for MPs.

“We have given great consideration to the capacity of the commonwealth to support the announcements that we have made,” he said. “We have put the freezes in place.”

Both Coalition and Labor MPs told The Australian on Thursday that a pay cut would have to be revisited in coming months, to show politicians felt the pain of an economically ravaged electorate.

“There will be an appropriate time to revisit politicians’ pay and I imagine that would be in the budget … there will need to be tough measures to pay for these rescue packages and to show we all have shared pain,” one Liberal MP said.

Former workplace relations minister Eric Abetz — who froze politicians’ pay when he served Tony Abbott in 2015 — said pay cuts for MPs would need to be considered. “Without being prescriptive, government will need to tighten its belts and consider its priorities,” he said.

NSW Liberal MP Jason Falinski also said the pay cut would remain a live issue, but noted that many MPs were working longer hours to help constituents hit by the coronavirus pandemic.