3.5pc pay rise for state politicians and senior government execs

Premier Chris Minns, NSW MPs and senior government executives are set to get a pay rise after ending a two-year salary freeze.

Premier Chris Minns, NSW MPs and senior government executives are set to get a pay rise after ending a two-year salary freeze.

The Saturday Telegraph can reveal the government has made a submission to the Parliamentary Remuneration Tribunal for the pay rise to be limited to 3.5 per cent – including superannuation – in line with the base pay offer being made to the general public sector workforce.

Still, that could deliver the Premier an extra $14,575, meaning his pay would rise to about $431,015.

However, Mr Minns would still earn less than his interstate counterparts, such as Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan who is sitting on $498,031.

Opposition Leader Mark Speakman – who earns $315,814 – could see his pay packet swell to $326,867.

Premier Chris Minns will earn an extra $14,575 a year. Picture: NewsWire/Nikki Short

The pay freeze was introduced by the Minns government in July 2023 amid “challenging budget” conditions, with NSW Treasury estimating the move would save taxpayers “around $260m”.

With those savings understood to have been made, the government has chosen not to extend the pay freeze.

Leaders’ pay packets around the globe.

The move follows Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and federal MPs receiving a 2.4 per cent pay bump.

The increase means the Prime Minister will receive a pay rise of about $15,000 from July 1, pushing his salary to $622,050 – more than US president Donald Trump (about $610,000) and UK prime minister Keir Starmer ($365,334).

However, not even Mr Albanese earns as much as some Australian “Band 4” department bosses who take home $671,947.

When the freeze was introduced, the annual wages bill for senior executives across NSW government agencies, departments and state-owned corporations had ballooned to about $1 billion a year.

Registered nurse and union member Sharmila Khatri Chettri would love a pay rise. Picture: Justin Lloyd

The Minns government also lifted a 2.5 per cent public sector wages cap imposed by the former Coalition government on nurses, teachers, police and other frontline workers.

The move unleashed a series of wage claims.

Nurses received 4 per cent in 2023 and an interim 3 per cent last year following an Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) recommendation.

NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association general secretary Shaye Candish said members had been “holding on” since the unions’ 15 per cent pay claim went to the government more than a year ago.

“It’s pretty tone deaf to leave the state’s biggest female-dominated workforce out in the cold, while taking steps to facilitate a pay rise for themselves,” she said.

Nurse Sharmila Khatri Chettri earns just over $75,800 and has to live with her fiance’s family in Canterbury-Bankstown to save money for a home.

Ms Khatri Chettri – who is a union member – said the mounting costs of groceries, energy bills and tolls made it difficult to save.

“I’m trying to save for a wedding and a house. But when we go to auctions they make us feel how poor we are,” she said.

Originally published as 3.5pc pay rise for state politicians and senior government execs