Dr WOODRUFF (Franklin – Leader of the Greens) – Honourable Speaker, the Tasmanian Industrial Commission has made their assessment, and we note that their determination is legitimate and they went through a proper process, and that the pay rise they recommend is legitimate according to the process they have enacted.
There has been a freeze on MPs’ salaries since the 2018 determination, effectively 2019, and also, I note, on electorate allowances for that period. That has an impact on the manner in which we can contribute to the community in the work that we do.
There’s no doubt for Tasmanian MPs that our pay is far below those of MPs in other states. At the moment I believe it’s 58 per cent of a federal government backbencher. It used to be much higher than that. I also recognise that different members of parliament have different personal and financial circumstances, and to have had no pay change at all for eight years, for many, seems hardly reasonable.
However, the Greens are deeply uncomfortable supporting a 22 per cent pay rise. In the current circumstances in Tasmania we find that a very difficult position to be involved in adopting. It is a very large correction in one hit – 22 per cent is not in line with community expectations for pay rises.
We have previously voted against substantially very large pay corrections that occurred in 1996. I believe it was a huge debate in the community, the 40 per cent pay rise that Tasmanian MPs received. I think MPs were earning $35,000 then, and that was a very big community discussion.
We also supported the 2012 decision not to make the big pay rise correction then. We acknowledge the situation now, as it was then, is that these large corrections are not in line with community expectations. We agree with the Treasurer. I believe the shadow, Ms Haddad, also mentioned that we need a system that is enduring that takes it out of the hands of MPs having anything to do with voting for or against disallowance motions which are effectively making decisions about our pay. That is not a place any of us want to be in.
We would encourage and recommend we work with government to bring in legislation – with other members of parliament; it affects us all – so that parliament can develop a mechanism. There are pretty obvious examples such as a wage price index or some sort of glide path to getting over a decade-long period or something that would slowly move us into better parity with other members of parliament in other states. That would be preferable. On the basis of that we will be supporting this disallowance motion today.
