Queensland Independent Remuneration Tribunal Act 2013

Pay decisions:

• Every MP gets a base annual salary
• MPs in special roles (Minister, Speaker, opposition leader, committee chairs, whips, etc.) can get extra salary on top — but only one extra salary at a time (the highest one)
• Salary increases for MPs cannot exceed whatever pay rise public servants get — keeping politicians' pay rises tied to the public sector
• MPs can choose to have part of their salary paid as superannuation contributions instead (called "salary sacrifice")

Repayment rules:

• If an MP leaves parliament partway through a period for which they've been paid an advance allowance, they must repay the overpaid portion
• Interest kicks in if repayment is overdue (at the Reserve Bank cash rate plus 0.5%)

Transparency:

• All determinations and the reasons for them must be tabled in Parliament and published online
• The Clerk of Parliament must maintain a public Members' Remuneration Handbook showing current entitlements
• The Tribunal must produce an annual report tabled in Parliament

Legal finality:

• Tribunal decisions cannot be challenged in court except where there is a "jurisdictional error" (a legal term meaning the Tribunal acted outside its lawful authority, such as ignoring a mandatory rule)

Why does it matter?

Before this Act, politicians' pay could be set in ways that created public concern about self-interest. This law creates a transparent, arms-length process — similar to how courts set judicial pay independently. The Act was also partly designed to wind back a 2013 pay rise that was seen as inappropriate, and to tie future increases to what ordinary public servants receive.