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Lambie goes rogue on ADF pay

Getty

Getty

Outspoken Palmer United Party senator Jacqui Lambie will use a private bill to force the government to link pay rises for military personnel to those awarded to politicians.

The move is likely to fail on constitutional grounds.

• Tensions rise between Palmer, Lambie

The former non-commissioned officer has vowed to oppose outright all legislation the government brings to the Senate unless the lower-than-inflation increase is overturned.

Senator Lambie’s chief of staff Rob Messenger, expelled from PUP on Thursday for exerting a disruptive influence over his boss, revealed a draft bill would be made public later on Friday.

He cited research from the Parliamentary Library which showed military personnel over the last 10 years had been awarded, on average, annual pay rises of three per cent.

Politicians, on the other hand, received seven per cent.

An independent tribunal recently awarded military personnel annual pay increases of 1.5 per cent over the next three years.

Family First senator Bob Day, while praising Senator Lambie for her defiant stance, would not say whether he would back her private bill.

“Good on her for that, but I haven’t made my position clear on that at this stage,” he said.

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