Fresh off a 3.5% pay increase for Members of Parliament in June, Federal politicians’ staff are set to vote next week on a proposal to raise their own pay by 11.2%.

In the days gone by, few, if any, politicians had staff. The job was a lot simpler, mainly because government and politics didn’t intrude anywhere near as much on society or the economy as they do today. Today the job is much more complex, and each Federal MP or senator has at least five full-time equivalent (FTE) staff positions available to them.

In those same days gone by, elected politicians didn’t even get paid. It was expected they would serve out of duty to their country and its citizens. The problem with this was that it effectively meant only people with sufficient means could afford to be politicians. Paying them gave more people the opportunity to run for office. Today, however, the base salary for a federal MP or senator is more than $237,000. The average salary for Australians is about $98,000 a year; the median salary is only $65,000.

Pay for political staffers varies depending on their specific role and relative experience. Senior staff employed under the MOPS Act can make $150,000 a year or more. An 11.2% pay rise for all the staff of 225 Federal MPs and senators is going to cost taxpayers a lot of money.

While many workers in Australia have received significant pay rises and additional tax cuts recently, Australian incomes have not kept pace with price rises of essentials. Over the past two years: the price of milk has increased by 18.8%; bread by 19.5%; eggs by 22.8%; gas by 21.3%; electricity by more than 50%; new homes by 19.7%; and insurance by 30.5%.

We argue that giving a big pay rise to staff who already enjoy incomes significantly higher than the average Australian sends an appalling message to people struggling to cope with this inflation. It’s a slap in their face, showing just how out-of-touch the political class is with the rest of Australia. One Nation strongly opposes this huge pay boost.