ID :
16024
Sat, 08/16/2008 - 08:41
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/16024
The shortlink copeid
WA MPs now highest-paid in nation
(AAP) - West Australian MPs will receive a pre-election pay rise - making them the highest paid politicians in the country.
The 4.2 per cent salary increase will kick in on September 1, five days before thestate poll, taking the base pay packet of an MP to $128,980.
Federal parliamentarians receive the next highest base salary in the land, with$127,060 per year.
The Salaries and Allowances Tribunal said it made its decision based on WA's high economic growth, annual inflation rise of 4.5 per cent and the 5.9 per cent increasein state wages for the March quarter.
Premier Alan Carpenter said he would consider pegging MPs salaries to their federalcounterparts if Labor was re-elected.
He had put a submission to the tribunal that MPs did not need a pay rise because federal MPs did not receive one this year but would not say whether he would givehis extra cash to charity.
Opposition Leader Colin Barnett said other professions deserved a pay rise beforepoliticians.
"I certainly don't think parliamentarians deserve a big pay rise at all. Teachersdo, they deserve a big pay rise," he said.
Meanwhile, the two major parties attacked each other's treatment of women, as the WAElectoral Commission announced the complete list of candidates for the election.
Six of the Liberals' 58 Legislative Assembly candidates are women, while 19 of theALP's 59 candidates are women.
The opposition has also recruited independent MP Liz Constable to its shadow cabinet.
Women's Interests Minister Sue Ellery said the lack of Liberal women candidates wasnot surprising.
She blamed the influence of former opposition leader Troy Buswell, who admittedsniffing a Liberal female staffer's chair and snapping a Labor staffer's bra.
"What else would you expect from the party that promoted Troy Buswell to the leadership, protected him despite his appalling behaviour and has now rewarded himwith the key Treasury portfolio?," Ms Ellery said.
"The Liberal Party is very much a boys' club and Colin Barnett and Troy Buswell intend to keep it that way." But opposition women's interests spokeswoman Helen Morton said the number of womenin senior public service positions had declined under Labor.
"You've got the biggest gender pay gap in Western Australia of any state and it's getting worse, and you've got less numbers of women in the senior executive serviceof the public sector.
"Women in leadership have gone backwards under the Carpenter government." Former Liberal legal affairs spokeswoman Sue Walker will stand as an independent inthe blue ribbon Perth seat of Nedlands.
Ms Walker quit the party after Mr Buswell took over in January, dubbing it a 'boysclub'.
Another former opposition leader, Paul Omodei, who was dumped in favour of Mr Buswell and later failed to gain a winnable spot in the upper house, on Fridayannounced he would retire at the election.
Meanwhile, Mr Barnett was campaigning in the northern town of Geraldton where he announced a Liberal government would increase the boarding-away-from home allowancefor isolated WA school children, from $1,215 per child per year to $2,000.
Mr Carpenter said Labor would give young disabled people access to four days a weektraining or recreational activities to help them transition from school to work.
The $43 million policy would double the government's current two days of support for18- to 25-year-old disabled people.
The 4.2 per cent salary increase will kick in on September 1, five days before thestate poll, taking the base pay packet of an MP to $128,980.
Federal parliamentarians receive the next highest base salary in the land, with$127,060 per year.
The Salaries and Allowances Tribunal said it made its decision based on WA's high economic growth, annual inflation rise of 4.5 per cent and the 5.9 per cent increasein state wages for the March quarter.
Premier Alan Carpenter said he would consider pegging MPs salaries to their federalcounterparts if Labor was re-elected.
He had put a submission to the tribunal that MPs did not need a pay rise because federal MPs did not receive one this year but would not say whether he would givehis extra cash to charity.
Opposition Leader Colin Barnett said other professions deserved a pay rise beforepoliticians.
"I certainly don't think parliamentarians deserve a big pay rise at all. Teachersdo, they deserve a big pay rise," he said.
Meanwhile, the two major parties attacked each other's treatment of women, as the WAElectoral Commission announced the complete list of candidates for the election.
Six of the Liberals' 58 Legislative Assembly candidates are women, while 19 of theALP's 59 candidates are women.
The opposition has also recruited independent MP Liz Constable to its shadow cabinet.
Women's Interests Minister Sue Ellery said the lack of Liberal women candidates wasnot surprising.
She blamed the influence of former opposition leader Troy Buswell, who admittedsniffing a Liberal female staffer's chair and snapping a Labor staffer's bra.
"What else would you expect from the party that promoted Troy Buswell to the leadership, protected him despite his appalling behaviour and has now rewarded himwith the key Treasury portfolio?," Ms Ellery said.
"The Liberal Party is very much a boys' club and Colin Barnett and Troy Buswell intend to keep it that way." But opposition women's interests spokeswoman Helen Morton said the number of womenin senior public service positions had declined under Labor.
"You've got the biggest gender pay gap in Western Australia of any state and it's getting worse, and you've got less numbers of women in the senior executive serviceof the public sector.
"Women in leadership have gone backwards under the Carpenter government." Former Liberal legal affairs spokeswoman Sue Walker will stand as an independent inthe blue ribbon Perth seat of Nedlands.
Ms Walker quit the party after Mr Buswell took over in January, dubbing it a 'boysclub'.
Another former opposition leader, Paul Omodei, who was dumped in favour of Mr Buswell and later failed to gain a winnable spot in the upper house, on Fridayannounced he would retire at the election.
Meanwhile, Mr Barnett was campaigning in the northern town of Geraldton where he announced a Liberal government would increase the boarding-away-from home allowancefor isolated WA school children, from $1,215 per child per year to $2,000.
Mr Carpenter said Labor would give young disabled people access to four days a weektraining or recreational activities to help them transition from school to work.
The $43 million policy would double the government's current two days of support for18- to 25-year-old disabled people.
