CANBERRA, June 23 (Xinhua) -- Australia's politicians have on Friday been forced to defend a two percent pay rise, which has been announced on the same day that tens of thousands of hospitality and retail workers prepare to face cuts to their Sunday penalty rates.
On Friday, it was revealed that the Fair Work Commission tribunal ticked off a two percent increase in pollie pay packets for the year starting July 1, bringing the base wage for a backbencher from 199,040 Australian dollars (150,136 U.S. dollars) to 203,020 Australian dollars (153,138 U.S. dollars) per year.
Cabinet members will be paid an average of 350,209 Australian dollars (264,163 U.S. dollars) from July 1, while Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's salary will rise from 517,504 Australian dollars (390,353 U.S. dollars) per year to 527,852 dollars per year (398,159 U.S. dollars) -- a rise of 10,348 Australian dollars (7805 U.S. dollars).
On Friday, Turnbull admitted there was "never a good time" to raise politicians' pay, but former politicians and the Australian Taxpayers' Association have raised concerns that it isn't a good look given the current economic climate.
Controversially, this Sunday will also be the first Sunday in which tens of thousands of hospitality and retails workers will not be paid penalty rates - time and a half - for working on a weekend, after the government passed the laws earlier this year.
Speaking on the Seven Network on Friday morning, former Labor Party leader Mark Latham said amid record low levels of wage growth and considering the level of government debt, it was a hard pill to swallow for hardworking taxpayers.
"(They don't deserve the rise) while wage growth is so flat right across the economy. Let's dispel this notion that it's an "independent tribunal". You only get on the tribunal if you're in favor of the pay increases. It's only their mates who get on the tribunal and they're all in favor of the pay increase," Latham said on Friday.
A spokesperson for the Australian Taxpayers' Alliance told News Corp that Australia has some of the highest paid bureaucrats in the world", claiming that Aussie politicians earned up to "two or three times" the salary of their British and American counterparts.
"It is an absolute disgrace that at the same time our politicians are raising taxes on struggling families and we have over 500 billion dollars of debt, our political class is rewarding itself with more lavish pay rises," the spokesperson said.
But politicians have come to defense of the pay rise; Finance Minister Mathias Cormann told Sky News that while there was "never a good time" to raise the salary of lawmakers, it was decided by an "independent tribunal" and not the politicians themselves.
"It's never a good time. I mean minimum wages, by another independent tribunal, were increased by 3.3 percent the other day," Cormann told Sky News.
"Politicians and the relevant public sector pay levels had been frozen for a period; a 2 percent pay rise was determined by an independent tribunal. It's not our decision, there's a never a good time, but considering the circumstances it was probably appropriate."
Meanwhile Defense Industry Minister Christopher Pyne said that it was the first pay rise for pollies in some time.
"In fact we've had a pay freeze for the last couple of years," Pyne told the Nine Network on Friday morning.
"The fair work commission has also just increased the average minimum wage for workers. The good thing about the way our salary is set is that we are not asked our opinion about it," he added.
