Do we pay our politicians too much?
Should we link the income we pay our politicians to something like the average wage/minimum wage of NZer's? This would give clear incentive to increase the economic wellbeing of people in NZ.
Hugo Kappes
Thu 12 Jun 2014 2:09AM
ridiculous idea,
Rik Tindall
Thu 12 Jun 2014 2:24AM
A very reasonable idea - wage relativity. But don't stop there - pin managerial and executive salaries to better base rates too.
Merryn Bayliss
Thu 12 Jun 2014 3:49AM
to limit inequity
Russell Clarke Tue 10 Jun 2014 4:10AM
@colindavies I know several monkeys, Colin, and they would be very upset to read your comment.
Colin Davies Tue 10 Jun 2014 6:13AM
@russellclarke . Yes I shouldn't defame monkeys. Next time I'll chose my expressions better.
fuck you assholes Tue 10 Jun 2014 9:25AM
I think at least we shouldn't increase their pay.
William Asiata Wed 11 Jun 2014 11:18AM
Any upright and socially accountable politician will be well aware of the state of well-being in New Zealand, and would not do anything to contribute to or exaggerate the presence of inequality in our society, and in fact their prime purpose as representatives and stewards of the people should be to ensure that the presence of inequality is diminished, therefore their salary should be based on something like the average wage/salary.
What we want in parliament are people that are dedicated to the prosperity of everyone as a whole, and they in themselves should realise the personal implications of this for the sake of living up to their duties without being hypocritic.
fuck you assholes Wed 11 Jun 2014 11:56AM
@michaelmarsom raises a good point. If people stray away from getting a job in parliament because they need a higher-paying job, then only people who are already rich will stand for parliament. This would be terrible.
Guntram Shatterhand Wed 11 Jun 2014 10:46PM
Just remember, the less you pay politicians, the harder you make it for people with low incomes to become MPs. And bear in mind that there are a lot of obstacles to that independent of salary.
Also bear in mind that the total yearly salary bill for all 120 MPs is a tiny fraction of government expenditure - it's about the same as the cost of running a medium sized regional office.
Merryn Bayliss Thu 12 Jun 2014 3:48AM
This sounds reasonable, and I support this idea in principle.
I reject the idea that paying excessive salaries attracts the best people, and I would go so far as to suggest that the opposite may be true in some cases. MPs need a good salary because it is a demanding job and their salary should reflect that. However MP salaries should not be so good that they attract people out of greed, who are in it for the salary and the perks (which are significant). There is a better chances of attracting people with high integrity if salaries are NOT excessive, in my view.
Guntram Shatterhand Thu 12 Jun 2014 8:20AM
@merrynbayliss I don't think that MP salaries do attract people out of greed. Quite a few people take pay cuts to become MPs. Steve Barnes did an excellent survey on the new intake of MPs in 2008 for his M.A. Thesis at Victoria, and he found that the financial reward was an extremely minor motivator. Most people were more interested in the power - which sounds negative, but I really mean power in the sense of "opportunity to do things".
So, dare I say it, I think we've got it about right re: salaries.
Colin Davies · Mon 9 Jun 2014 9:41AM
To encourage good people we need to have good pay. Pay peanuts and you get monkeys. The trouble is we are paying good money and still have monkeys.