Labor Party Will Not Support Pay Rise For Queensland MPs The Labor party has announced it will not support the government's $57,000 pay rise for MPs. The increase, which applies to all sitting MPs, not just those belonging to the government, was announced by acting premier Jeff Seeney on Thursday following Crown law advice that the 2009 Bligh-government freeze of politician's pays was unlawful. A letter has been sent to Labor Party branch members advising them that Caucus members "do not and will not" support the rise. "The decision on MPs' wages is especially offensive to those former government workers whose jobs were among the 14,000 cut by the Newman government which claimed it could not afford to pay them, despite the fact many of those sacked delivered frontline services," the letter said. Mr Seeney announced the government would cut electoral allowances by 50 per cent and slash the amount of public funding to political parties by the same percentage to ensure the rise would be "cost neutral" to the budget. Katter's Australian Party MP Shane Knuth has vowed to put forward a private member's bill attempting to block the pay rise. On Thursday, Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie said Mr Knuth's party "and the other minor parties in Queensland" were using the issue to pander to the "populism view." "I suspect Shane Knuth doesn't understand the issue at hand," he said. I will be interested to see the bill he tries to introduce, but all it is at the moment is opportunistic politics. Mr Bleijie and Mr Seeney have previously said the government had "no choice" but to follow Crown law advice to pass on the pay rise, but admitted they had not sought any advice about alternatives. The Greens and the unions have also spoken out against the pay rise. Together Union secretary Alex Scott is expected to speak more about the issue on Friday.