Plain Politics

What politicians are paid

Every senator and member is paid the same base salary. On top of that comes an electorate allowance, and for ministers and office holders, an additional salary set as a percentage of the base.

Base salary
$239,270
every senator and member
Electorate allowance
$39,700
more for large divisions
A backbencher
$278,970
base plus allowance
Prime Minister
$622,102
base plus 160%

Electorate allowance

Paid with salary by the parliamentary department and taxable. It is remuneration, not a work expense, and does not appear in the IPEA expenses published elsewhere on this site.

Applies toPer yearClause
Every senator and member$39,7002.8.1
Member for a division of at least 2,000 km² and less than 5,000 km²$47,2002.8.2
Member for a division of 5,000 km² or more$57,1002.8.3

Office holders in this parliament

Members whose office identifies a rate without ambiguity. Total is base salary plus the additional salary for the office, before electorate allowance.

MemberOfficeExtraTotal salary
Anthony AlbanesePrime Minister · 160%$382,832$622,102
Richard MarlesDeputy Prime Minister · 105%$251,234$490,504
Jim ChalmersTreasurer · 87.5%$209,361$448,631
Penny WongLeader of the Government in the Senate · 87.5%$209,361$448,631
Angus TaylorLeader of the Opposition · 85%$203,380$442,650
Tony BurkeLeader of the House · 75%$179,453$418,723
Jane HumeDeputy Leader of the Opposition · 57.5%$137,590$376,860
Michaelia CashLeader of the Opposition in the Senate · 57.5%$137,590$376,860
Jonathon DuniamManager of Opposition Business in the Senate · 25%$59,820$299,090
Anne RustonDeputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate · 20%$47,860$287,130

Ministers

Additional to the base salary. Determined by the Executive Government, not by the Tribunal. The Deputy Prime Minister when acting as Prime Minister is paid at the Prime Minister's rate.

OfficeAdditionalTotal salary
Prime Minister160%$622,102
Deputy Prime Minister105%$490,504
Treasurer87.5%$448,631
Leader of the Government in the Senate87.5%$448,631
Leader of the House75%$418,723
Other Minister in Cabinet who is also Manager of Government Business in the Senate75%$418,723
Other Ministers in Cabinet72.5%$412,741
Other Minister who is also Manager of Government Business in the Senate67.5%$400,777
Other Ministers57.5%$376,850
Parliamentary Secretary who is also Manager of Government Business in the Senate35%$323,015
Parliamentary Secretaries25%$299,088

Other offices

Expressed as a percentage of the base salary. An office holder who is also a Shadow Minister does not receive both (clause 2.4.4).

OfficeAdditionalTotal salary
Leader of the Opposition85%$442,650
President of the Senate75%$418,730
Speaker of the House of Representatives75%$418,730
Deputy Leader of the Opposition57.5%$376,860
Leader of the Opposition in the Senate57.5%$376,860
Leader of a minority party with more than 10 members in the Parliament45%$346,950
Leader of a minority party with up to 10 members in the Parliament42.5%$340,960
Manager of Opposition Business in the House of Representatives27.5%$305,070
Chief Government Whip in the House of Representatives26%$301,490
Shadow Minister (clause 2.4.2) · rate not public25%not reported
Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate25%$299,090
Chief Opposition Whip in the House of Representatives23%$294,310
Shadow Minister (clause 2.4.3) · rate not public20%not reported
Deputy President and Chair of Committees in the Senate20%$287,130
Deputy Speaker in the House of Representatives20%$287,130
Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate20%$287,130
Chief Government Whip in the Senate20%$287,130
Chief Opposition Whip in the Senate18%$282,340
Chair of the Joint Statutory Committee of Public Accounts and Audit16%$277,560
Chair of the Joint Statutory Committee on Public Works16%$277,560
Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade16%$277,560
Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties16%$277,560
Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters16%$277,560
Second Deputy Speaker in the House of Representatives13%$270,380
Whip in the House of Representatives of a Government party with more than 10 Members13%$270,380
Whip in the House of Representatives of an Opposition party with more than 10 Members12%$267,990
Chair of a committee not otherwise specified11%$265,590
Whip in the House of Representatives of a minority party with at least 5 members9%$260,810
Whip in the Senate of a minority party with at least 5 senators9%$260,810
Deputy Chair of the five named joint committees8%$258,420
Deputy Chair of a committee not otherwise specified5.5%$252,430
Government Deputy Whip in the Senate5%$251,240
Opposition Deputy Whip in the Senate5%$251,240
Deputy Whip in the House of Representatives of a Government or Opposition party with more than 10 Members3%$246,450
Member of the Speaker's Panel in the House of Representatives3%$246,450
Temporary Chairman of Committees in the Senate3%$246,450
Chair of the Senate Standing Committee of Senators' Interests3%$246,450
Deputy Whip in the House of Representatives of a minority party with at least 5 members2%$244,060

Not reported

Which rate an individual Shadow Minister is paid
Clause 2.4 makes the choice between 25% and 20% depend on a notice given to the paying authority by the Leader of the Opposition. That notice is not published, so the rate for any particular shadow minister cannot be established from public sources.
Which ministers sit in Cabinet, for pay purposes
The ministerial rates turn on Cabinet rank, and the office titles held on this site are portfolio names rather than pay categories. Nothing in "Minister for Communications" says whether that minister is in Cabinet.
Committee chair and whip positions
These attract between 2% and 16% of base salary, and are not recorded in the office data held on this site.
Which members take the additional electorate allowance
Clause 3.11 provides a further $19,500 to a member who elects not to take a private plated vehicle. Whether an individual has made that election is not published.

How these figures are worked out

  • The base salary and every percentage are as published. Totals are worked out from them.
  • For each office holder the annual amount of office holder's salary is to be rounded up to the nearest $10. (clause 2.5). The determination gives one worked example, at the note to clause 2.3: the Speaker's office holder's salary is $179,460, being 75% of the base salary of $239,270 rounded up to the nearest $10.
  • Ministerial salary is expressly not office holder's salary, so the rounding rule does not state that it applies. Ministerial totals here are therefore the unrounded arithmetic, and are marked as derived.
  • Payable to every senator and member. Clause 2.2 gives $49,970 as the portion of base salary that is not parliamentary allowance for superannuation purposes — that is not a salary figure and is sometimes misreported as one.
  • Electorate allowance is remuneration, not a work expense. The expenses published on this site are a separate matter and contain no salary or allowance.

Sources

Remuneration Tribunal (Members of Parliament) Determination 2024, Compilation No. 5, compiled 7 September 2025 (F2025C00846). Made under Parliamentary Business Resources Act 2017, ss 45, 46 and 46A.

Remuneration Tribunal Report Number 1 of 2025 — Report on Ministerial Salaries, signed 1 July 2025. The Remuneration Tribunal does not determine Ministerial salary — the determination says so at the note to clause 2.7. The Tribunal reports on it; the rates are a matter for the Executive Government.

The Remuneration Tribunal publishes these figures as PDF prose and tables. There is no machine-readable source, and the Federal Register of Legislation API returns metadata only, so this dataset is transcribed by hand rather than ingested. Every figure below was read from the source document at the clause or page recorded against it, not from secondary reporting. Media and encyclopaedia figures for the Prime Minister's salary disagree with each other because they apply different rounding; see the rounding note. Figures were last checked against the source documents on 22 July 2026. Sourced from Remuneration Tribunal publications. Licensed for reuse under a Creative Commons BY Attribution 3.0 Australia licence.