Queensland Premier Campbell Newman is on holiday in Vietnam at the moment and is expected to come home later this week to a newfound appreciation of the fivefold elemental balance in Vietnamese cuisine – or ngù vì – in addition to a pay rise of $117,623, bringing his total salary to almost Obama levels of bank.
Following the publication of the Member’s Entitlement Handbook last night, today’s Brisbane Times are reporting that a pay rise awarded to government MPs last week and revealed today will see Premier Newman’s base salary increase to $398,271. The Times points out that the POTUS receives an annual salary of $400,000 [before allowances]; Prime Minister Kevin Rudd meanwhile receives an annual salary of $470,000.
Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk, who says she will divert her pay rise of $84,023 back into her electorate, has labelled the government-wide increases as determined by an independent tribunal “morally wrong” in light of recent job and funding cuts in the state’s health, disability, welfare and arts sectors.
Members from both parties have publicly stated they’ll either be explicitly rejecting their pay rises or sinking the allocated funds* into their electorates^.
[Where *allocated funds are 333’s and ^electorates are mouths.]
Photo: Chris Hyde via Getty
