Alliance Party believes Obama style pay restraint should be for MPs and the wealthy only

Alliance Party Media Release – For Immediate Release – January 24, 2009

The Alliance Party is pleased that Prime Minister John Key has emulated US President Barack Obama and asked for a freeze of MPs salaries, according to Co-Leader Kay Murray.

The Alliance would have been even more impressed if he had asked MP’s not to accept the 3.7 – 4.5% announced in November and back dated to July 2008. His refusal to do this, despite being reminded at the time that the Irish Prime Minister had asked Irish MPs to take a 10% wage cut due to the economic crisis, makes his current announcement just a little disingenuous.

“There is a difference though in that unlike Barack Obama, whose call for a wage freeze was restricted to incomes of over US $100,000 per annum, Mr. Key’s call for pay restraint appears to apply across the board. It is one thing to cope with a wage freeze if your ministerial salary is around $400,000 a year and your independent weῡlth is assessed at about $50 million. It is another thing entirely, if you are earning $12 to $15 an hour as many New Zealanders are, said Ms Murray. ᾠ

The party is also asking John Key to make it clear, as Barack Obama has done, that his call for wage restraint applies only to those on high salaries and not those already on subsistence wages.

“The party would like to see the Prime Minister go even further and raise the minimum wage to a level that would enable all New Zealanders to enjoy a liveable wage. It would be the PM’s chance to prove that he is in Obama’s league and not just a wannabe,” she added.

The Alliance believes a minimum wage of $17 per hour would achieve this and have the added bonus of helping to stimulate the economy unlike most of National’s proposed tax cuts that will only assist the wealthiest.

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