Tasmanian Politicians Grant Themselves $30K Raise, Call It 'Necessary'
Author by
Phor
Thursday, 2025 Jul 03|
07:16 PM
In a bold move that screams “read the room… or don’t,” Tasmanian MPs are set to receive a $30,000 salary increase—automatically, unless they choose to vote it down.
Spoiler: they probably won’t.
The decision, handed down by the Tasmanian Industrial Commission, will lift backbencher salaries to $185,000, making them some of the highest-paid politicians per capita in the country.
And before you ask—no, this wasn’t part of a broader public sector raise.
Nurses, teachers, and frontline workers did not get a matching 19.5% bump.
This was a standalone decision, applied just to state politicians, justified by comparisons to federal MPs and other states.
Translation: “Everyone else is getting more, so we should too.” The optics? Catastrophic.
This comes at a time when the state is still grappling with housing shortages, cost-of-living spikes, and widespread frustration with political accountability.
Voters aren’t seeing improved services or increased transparency—just elected officials pocketing five figures in one go and explaining it away as “catching up.” The decision isn’t technically locked in.
MPs could vote to block the raise.
But they’d have to actively oppose a pay rise for themselves.
Historically, that kind of moral courage ranks somewhere between unicorn sightings and bipartisan TikTok dance collabs.
Premier Jeremy Rockliff didn’t exactly sprint to kill the raise either.
He said he would “consider community sentiment”—a phrase that usually translates to: “We’ll ride this out and hope the outrage dies before the next news cycle.” Labor leader Dean Winter also dodged a firm no, instead calling for “restraint” and “fairness.” Strong words.
No action. The core issue here is political detachment.
While many Tasmanians are choosing between groceries and rent, their representatives are set to earn more than a cardiac surgeon.
The argument for “attracting talent” starts to sound tone-deaf when trust in that talent is at an all-time low.
Worse, it deepens the public's cynicism: if politicians can’t regulate their own pay rises during an economic squeeze, how can they be trusted to regulate anything else?
The raise may be legal. It’s just not ethical.
📝 Clara’s Cut: In a state struggling with real issues, a $30K politician bonus is more than just bad optics—it’s a case study in how to lose public trust in one news cycle.
🧨 You made it to the end. now what?
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