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Ch2 House, Government and Opposition / THE MINISTRY / Ministerial salaries



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House of Representatives                                Ch 2                                                 p 71

 

House, Government and Opposition / THE MINISTRY

 

Ministerial salaries

All Ministers receive a salary in addition to their salary and allowance as a Member of Parliament. 1 Ministers are not parliamentary office holders ( see p.  51 ) but holders of (ministerial) office under the Crown. Authority is made in the Executive Government provisions (Part II) of the Constitution for salaries to be paid to Ministers of State in the following terms:

There shall be payable to the Queen, out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Commonwealth, for the salaries of the Ministers of State, an annual sum which, until the Parliament otherwise provides, shall not exceed twelve thousand pounds a year. 2

In addition to determining the number of Ministers ( see p.  56 ), the Ministers of State Act appropriates a sum of money, in lieu of the sum stated in the Constitution, for the payment of ministerial salaries. 3 The level of salaries to be paid to Ministers is adjusted in proportion to changes in the remuneration of Members. 4

Increases in ministerial salaries and allowances can only be made by a mending the Ministers of State Act to increase the annual sum appropriated by that Act. The level of salary of office varies according to each Minister’s level of responsibility, in the following descending scale:

Prime Minister

Deputy Prime Minister

Treas urer, Leader of the Government in the Senate

Leader of the House

Other Ministers in Cabinet

Other Ministers

Parliamentary Secretaries.



See Ch. on ‘Members’.



Constitution, s. 66.



Ministers of State Act 1952 .



Remuneration and Allowances Act 1990.