New Zealand MPs to receive payrise

New Zealand Members of Parliament will receive thousands more after getting pay increases today.

The pay rises for backbench MPs are between 3.8% and 4.1% which will mean a backbench MP will now earn around NZ$122,500. The pay rises are to counter inflation next year of about 2.5% which will result in MPs receiving more money. Other MPs with senior positions will get rises of between 4% and 8.1%.

This year the Prime Minister's increase will be worth just over $14,000 - paying her $6,942 a week. Helen Clark, PM of New Zealand, received a 9.4 per cent rise last year, increasing her salary by nearly $30,000 to $347,000. The latest increase will see her salary rise to about $361,000.

National's multimillionaire John Key has already secured a significant pay rise this week with his election to the leader's job and is on $216,000.

The pay rise will be backdated to July 1, The New Zealand Herald reported today.

Mr Key told The New Zealand Herald that he would donate a significant amount of his pay check to charitable organisations, as he has done since he first became an MP.

Last year backbenchers got a 4.1% increase in their pay.

Judges are also going to expect a pay rise next year of about 5%.