MPs salaries vs Judges salaries

I think it was the wrong call to restrict MPs salary increase to the overall public sector, rather than to similar positions. The salary of the Prime Minister should not be determined based on what the going rate for policy analysts is.

I was interested in what the relativity has been over the years between the salaries set for MPs, and the salaries set for judges, as both are set by the Remuneration Authority. Have MPs had bigger increases than judges? The same? fallen away?

I headed down to the National Library to dig out determinations from 1985 onwards, and the data is below.

This compares the salaries set for backbench MPs with District Court Judges. An MP used to get 73% of what a District Court Judge gets, but today they get just 48%. That is excluding superannuation subsidies which are far more generous to judges.

Then I compared Cabinet Ministers to High Court Judges. In 1985 they were paid almost the same (Ministers got $957 more). Today a Cabinet Minister gets just 67% of what a High Court Judge gets. They get paid almost $150,000 less.

Finally we have the Prime Minister and the Chief Justice. The PM today gets 90% of what the Chief Justice gets, but in 1985 he got paid a third more than the Chief Justice.

So as unpopular as it is with many, MPs salaries have actually fallen away compared to similar positions in the past.