Deputy Leader of the NSW Nationals, Bronnie Taylor has accused Premier Chris Minns of deception, bullying and mistreatment after he suggested in question time last week, that she was “demanding a whopping 13% pay rise every year – $22,000 a year”.
The Premier’s attack, in which he also accused Taylor of being a lazy worker, was followed by his office approving an unusual background media alert notifying them of Taylor’s request, against the context of essential workers (like nurses and teachers) contending with a soon-to-be-changed wages cap of 2.5%.
While Taylor has pursued an increase in her salary, she claims it’s not a mysterious, “money-grab” as framed by the government, but a simple regulation change to an archaic rule that would enable her to fairly receive an allocation of funds for her high-grade duties in parliament.
Taylor, the first woman to hold the position of Deputy Leader of the NSW Nationals in 100 years, says she was advised by parliamentary clerks to seek the allocation which currently only covers Deputy Leaders serving in the Legislative Assembly not the Legislative Council. Political parties need to have nine members in the upper house to qualify for the additional pay, where there are only five Nationals presently serving.
In an initial letter to the Office of the Clerk, Taylor noted that “women already face obstacles to getting equal pay for what they do- serving in the Legislative Council and not the Legislative Assembly should not be a barrier or act as a deterrent to other Legislative Council women seeking leadership positions”.
Taylor says that after speaking with several Labor ministers about the regulation change after this, the advice had ubiquitously been that the process should and would be straightforward. Despite this, she received no update on the application.
Prepared to leave the issue until she could speak in-person with the Premier, Taylor says she was shocked and humiliated when Minns opened fire toward her on the floor of parliament last week, leaving her with little choice but to lodge a formal complaint with the Independent Complaints Office.
Questioning the conduct of Minns, Taylor says the premier has failed to espouse the party values Labor prides itself on.
“If Chris Minns is the person that he purports himself to be, then why would he not have just come and spoken to me about it?” she asks. “Why would none of them respond to emails or text? Messages or anything? The real issue for me here is it’s the independent advice of the clerk that says this is an old archaic rule when leaders never came from the upper house. It’s a stroke of a pen, and it’s a swap”, she says.
Taylor believes Minns’ approach to the situation reflects how he’s prepared to play in politics.
“When I think of The Labor Party, I think of the values of a fair day’s work a fair day’s pay. I think of the values of treating everybody equally. I think of a party that has really burst the glass ceiling in terms of women’s representation and done a really good job. I think of a party that represents itself to be fair and equal. And all this behaviour that’s been exhibited by him really speaks to his character and not mine,” she says.
But Taylor is also cognisant of how the government will continue to use this issue to paint her in an unforgiving light during a cost-of-living crisis.
“They have an office full of media advisors that try and spin a story that is not factual, to demean and diminish”, she says.
“I think a lot of people in my position would not pursue this because of the reasons of what they’re trying to pin on me. They’re trying to make me look greedy. And who wants to talk about a politician getting a pay rise? No one! So, they’re using that ability to lie about what the situation is and then try and create a narrative by sending out background information.”
Despite the possible stakes, Taylor says any possible blood shed is worth it for the principle of the case, and the broader ripple effect it might achieve for women in politics rising up the ranks.
What she’s requested as part of the resolution to her lodged complaint is an assurance that this never happens to anyone else.
“Most people wouldn’t do what I’m doing. They wouldn’t risk it. They wouldn’t risk talking about it,” says Taylor.
“But if I don’t stand up for the principles of a female leader in New South Wales, well, then who am I? And they will do it to someone else, and they’ll do it to someone else who may not have, you know, the courage and the conviction or the ability to stand up to this,” she adds.
Taylor also makes the point that this plot line is something that “happens to women everywhere”.
“We know that they do the same job and then they don’t get paid the same amount. But it shouldn’t happen in the Parliament of New South Wales. And it shouldn’t happen under a premier who, you know, puts himself forward as being this modern progressive leader that espouses the values of the Labor Party.”
The current base salary of a Member of the Legislative Council is $172,576.
Premier Chris Minns was contacted for comment.