Cross-party talks aim to increase state politicians' nest eggs EXCLUSIVE: MORE than half of Victoria's state MPs would get a big bump in their taxpayer-funded superannuation under a secret deal being discussed between Labor and the Coalition. Under the deal, the taxpayer contribution to the superannuation of the 67 MPs elected since 2004 - when the parliamentary pension scheme was closed to new members - will jump from 9 per cent to 15 per cent a year. The new arrangements would boost the super funds of 62 backbenchers by an extra $8000 a year, while five ministers would get more than $14,000 extra. All 128 MPs in Parliament would also get a 2.5 per cent pay increase. Also under discussion is a plan to provide MPs who lose their seats at an election, or who are defeated in pre-selection battles, with a severance package when they leave Parliament. On Wednesday, while on a retreat at the goldfields town of Creswick, Coalition MPs were briefed by Assistant Treasurer Gordon Rich-Phillips on the proposed pay rises. Party leaders will be hoping the mooted super boost will help avert growing cross-party anger at the differences in pay between MPs elected before 2004 and those elected in 2006 and 2010. A government MP has told the Herald Sun that there have been informal discussions between Coalition and Labor MPs who are discontented with their party leaders' response to their concerns. In response to the growing unrest, a former Canberra bureaucrat was hired late last year by the Department of Premier and Cabinet as an independent consultant to prepare a report on the subject. At a meeting last December with Labor MPs, the consultant was told bluntly that the current situation was unacceptable and unless something was done to fix it, the newcomers would sooner or later use their growing numbers to either put themselves on the old pension scheme, or move to abolish it altogether. A Coalition MP said proposed pay rises had received a lukewarm response at Wednesday's meeting. "People are waiting to see the detail," the MP said. Labor and Coalition spokesmen refused to discuss the proposed deal in detail yesterday. Government spokesman Paul Price said it was yet to receive the report of the independent review into parliamentary entitlements. "No final decision on this matter has been made," he said. Opposition spokesman Sally Finlay said: "An independent review of MPs' entitlements is an important process. We understand that it is not complete and we await its completion. The Coalition briefing on the deal came a day before it was reported in the media that Premier Ted Baillieu had been warned late last year to lift his performance, or risk being dumped.