What could Prime Minister Christopher Luxon possibly be waiting for? Why the relative silence on the looming MPs’ pay review by the Remuneration Authority, which is widely expected to recommend a pay rise?
It’s simple: Just say NO, because it is seriously unjustified in these tough times.
All he needs to do is say, “No thanks, wrong time to give me and my fellow MPs a pay rise”. Easy. On $470,000 I’m sure he can get by.
But he’s refused to be drawn on it and I’m baffled by this.
It’s not like he’s been a hermit, giving New Zealanders no idea of what he stands for. Quite the opposite. He has views on everything, and he’s seeking outcomes on everything else.
But on whether he thinks MPs should be paid more, he repeats the nonsense of those who have come before. He’s told the country: “It’s not for a prime minister or an MP to comment on their pay. We’ve set up an independent remuneration authority for that very reason, we need to let them run through their process and see what they get to.
“There is a process that has been set up under successive governments to have an independent review authority to look at MP pay, and I am not involved with that. I don’t want to be involved with that. That should be a decision for the independent remuneration authority.
“You do not want MPs making decisions about their own pay and that’s why it was set up in an independent way. Let’s let them do their work and let’s see what they come up with.”
So, in short, he’s saying that the Remuneration Authority is a standalone independent body with the power to act on its own.
Rubbish. The Remuneration Authority is run by public servants. When Jacinda Ardern wrote to the Authority in 2017 saying Parliamentarians couldn’t possibly take a cent more in these tough times, the authority followed along like a well-trained, possibly slightly scared, puppy
Luxon could have done the same by now, but has chosen not to call off the dogs. You’d think his naive foray into claiming the $52k housing allowance to live in his own freehold apartment might have served as a warning; after all, he certainly plummeted in the polls.
MPs are likely to hear within a fortnight what the Remuneration Authority has decided. Meanwhile, Luxon’s silence is inviting trouble. Where is his radar on this - surely, it’s going off in his head, isn’t it?
These things go down about as well as a vegan being the invited special guest speaker at your favourite pig hunt and fishing competition. Voters haven’t warmed to Luxon. He has none of the popularity of his predecessors.
He is a hugely successful and wealthy man who needs to be careful that he doesn’t give himself two pay rises (tax cuts and the MPs’ pay bump) in the space of the next month while at the same time laying off people and saying he’s feeling for them.
It’s all downside for Luxon. The tax cut he gives himself as laid-off workers sign up for the dole will paint a terrible image of a man content to help himself while others suffer. In short, there couldn’t be a worse time to give a pay rise to our MPs.
The news media’s response – generally – could well be sneering. After all, our media faces a permanent lie-down with the moa so they’re hardly going to go lightly on MPs if they are awarded a pay rise, especially given the snail-like media rescue plan that the Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media Melissa Lee claims exists.
But back to the pay rise. Maybe Luxon’s struggling? Let’s examine that.
At Air NZ as CEO he was paid $4.2 million a year or $350,000 every month – that’s a house deposit every month. Now he has to scrape by on $40,000 a month, which is quite a dropbut he’s hardly on “struggle street”, and let’s not forget about his income-generating rental portfolio.
Personally, I think it’s obscene. Luxon has had numerous chances to send a very strong message to not just the Remuneration Authority but to voters to reassure them he’s one of us. But he’s not.
Now, let me leave you with a few facts – and make my position as clear as mud.
It is ridiculous for MPs to be on the same money as they were seven years ago. They have not had a pay rise since March 2017, when they got 2.25%.
Holding a group of professional workers’ pay at 2017 levels should be unacceptable to most New Zealanders and no doubt, we’d make some noise if it were happening to other public servants.
In the seven years since MPs last got a pay rise, wages have increased 27%, and the minimum wage by a staggering 47%. Pay increases in NZ right now average 6.9% a year.
During the past seven years, Australia gave its MPs four pay rises totalling 11.2%.
So, it is time our MPs had their pay revised upwards – but not now, not in the middle of a massive austerity drive.
Right now, it feels as if the country is a powder keg. The last thing it needs is for us to throw more fuel its way. It’s about perception and our MPs will just have to tough it out.
If they don’t like it, I hear teachers are in hot demand and we always need new police officers.
But can I suggest retraining as a journalist might not be such a good option.
