Australian federal politicians have been given a 2.4% pay rise, taking the base salary of a backbench MP to A$239,270 (approximately US$156,000) and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s salary to A$622,110 (US$406,000).

The pay rise was announced by Australia’s Remuneration Tribunal, the independent body responsible for setting the salaries of senior public officials.

The pay rise takes effect from 1 July and applies to all federal politicians in Canberra, including backbench MPs, ministers and committee chairs.

Australian MPs are the sixth-highest-paid national legislators in the world at the time of writing.

Anthony Albanese is the fourth-highest-paid world leader, earning more than US president Donald Trump (US$400,000) but less than the chancellor of Germany (US$427,000), the president of Switzerland (US$609,000) and the prime minister of Singapore (US$1,724,000).

Image credit: Flickr / Jerry Skinner (CC-BY)