When it comes to their own benefits, Australian politicians lead from the front: while the ordinary worker is stuck on 9%, South Australian MPs' superannuation benefits are to be upgraded to 15.4% ! Treasurer Kevin Foley said it was the Rann government's intention "to bring state MPs' superannuation into line with our federal colleagues".
Mr Foley would neither confirm nor deny that raising benefits of nine per cent to 15.4 per cent of an MPs' annual salary would be in the budget.
"We've had discussions in both the Labor Party and the Liberal Party, and there is a very fair argument that state politicians' superannuation needs to be reformed, and we'll look at doing that in the near future," Mr Foley told The Weekend Australian.
But Public Service Association chief industrial officer Peter Christopher said the move would be met with "outrage" by public sector workers. (Methinks that's easily fixed: give the socalled "Public Servants" the same 15.4% and they'll shut up!)
"In an environment where every single public sector union is continually reporting pressure on staffing, difficulties improving wages and conditions, and pressure to meet budget cuts, this superannuation rise for politicians will be seen by the community as quite outrageous," Mr Christopher said.
State MPs elected in 2006 or later are now entitled to a nine per cent super payout based on their parliamentary salaries.
The scheme is a legacy of former federal opposition leader Mark Latham, who promised to cut MPs' super benefits to nine per cent of annual earnings if he was elected.
The Howard government and eventually most state governments bowed to public pressure and agreed to downgrade new MPs' super benefits.
But federal parliamentarians elected after 2004 now receive 15 per cent of their salaries in a revised scheme.
Other jurisdictions, including NSW, Victoria, Tasmania and the Northern Territory, have a nine per cent scheme for new MPs. In Queensland, state MPs elected after December 2004 receive 12.75 per cent. State MPs in Western Australia elected after October 2000 receive 12.5 per cent.
South Australian opposition Treasury spokesman Iain Evans yesterday confirmed Mr Foley had proposed the reform , which would be supported by the Liberals. "Whenever the government introduces the changes, the Liberal Party has the position that we will be supporting it," Mr Evans said.
"The Liberal Party has taken a position that we try to line up the state MPs' wages and super with the federal MPs.
"We still support the $2000 differential between MPs' wages, but we do think there is an argument that for a federal MP to be on 15.4 per cent and state MPs to be on 9 per cent clearly makes the federal MPs' position a lot more attractive, and we need to keep a talent pool at state level. (Did I read that right? "Talent"?) Kevin Foley indicated one of his options was to introduce it in the budget but he hadn't resolved that."
