MPs and their senior staff must check their privilege rather than worrying about pay, according to Ali Cupper, after suggestions from a Victorian Liberal that MPs and political staff received “miserly pay”.
The Mildura MP said during a discussion on parliamentary integrity that she did not believe MPs were underpaid and that the motive to get involved in politics was standing for values.
Her comments follow the recent resignation of the Victorian Opposition Leader Matthew Guy’s chief of staff Mitch Catlin after reportedly seeking funds from Liberal donors to supplement his public service wage.
“What worried me most about the Mitch Catlin scandal was a column that followed suggesting the root cause was not greed or entitlement but the miserly pay that MPs and senior advisers get,” Ms Cupper said.
“This idea that unless our constituents pay us twice or three times the amount that we are getting now, what is the incentive to work in the public sector?
“Maybe the incentive is values. Maybe the incentive is the opportunity to represent your community and to be part of a bigger cause than yourself and your own wallet.
“In Mitch Catlin’s case, if the honour of serving Her Majesty’s Opposition for a healthy middle-class wage is not enough for you, that is all we need to know about where your heart is.
“Helping Kim Kardashian flog her make-up at Flemington is the right job for you – serving the public is not.”
Mr Catlin resigned from his role as Mr Guy’s chief of staff in early August after The Age reported that he sought more than $100,000 from a Liberal Party donor for his marketing business.
The payments would reportedly have been on top of his salary as a member of Mr Guy’s staff.
Mr Guy denied any wrongdoing, saying the arrangement “was never agreed to, signed, or put into place”.
The Victorian Electoral Commission began preliminary inquiries into whether political donations were potentially disguised as alternative payments to political entities.
Mr Guy told reporters this month he was complying with requests by the VEC to hand over documents related to the matter.
Ms Cupper’s remarks were in response to comments attributed to a Victorian Liberal party source in a Guardian Australia story last Wednesday.
The party source conceded it was hard to find like-minded people to parliament as the private sector paid “much much better”.
“I think we’re all a little bit mad, the ones of us who chose to work in this place,” they said.
But Shadow attorney-general Michael O’Brien described working in parliament as a service to the public and not a place for a “side-hustle”.
The Victorian Independent Tribunal lists the basic salary payable to Victorian MPs at $192,115 a year. While it is not known what salary Mr Catlin was earning before his resignation, his base income was reported by The Age to be in the vicinity of $140,000.
Ms Cupper said while it was not clear whether there had been an attempt to get around donation rules, she said politicians were very fortunate and were obliged to use their positions for good.
