HON MICHAEL WOODHOUSE

Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety
12 March 2015 Media Statement

Numbers not Turei’s strong suit

Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei has again shown that not only does she not understand basic math, but she doesn’t understand her own pay slip, says Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety Michael Woodhouse.

“The Greens have calculated changes to base salary rather than total MP remuneration – which is what the Remuneration Authority considers and what the Government’s new policy will continue to assess. But even then, Ms Turei can’t get her basic facts right and has got the changes in base salaries wrong for the past seven years.

“The Greens’ press release claims the 2014/15 base salary for an MP is $161,616 under the current system. In fact, the 2015 determination – which we are to overturn – set the salary for ordinary members at a level $5600 lower than this made up figure.

“Not only are the Greens missing the point, yet again they can’t even get their own figures right. Next minute they’ll be claiming 90 per cent of MPs are turning up at Parliament without lunch.

“The Bill required minor amendments to the transitional provisions to give effect to the policy announced by the Prime Minister last week. It’s important to take the time necessary for officials to work through this to ensure it’s right.

“This is quite a separate issue to the principle behind changing the way MP’s pay is set so they are treated fairly and relative to the wider public sector. By using the Quarterly Employment Survey, this will ensure more consistency and transparency in the process.

“If the Greens and others have a problem with that, then their problem is really with the level of those public sector settlements under the previous Labour Government.”

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