The government has strongly denied claims by Unity Fiji leader Savenaca Narube that ministers received a 40 per cent pay rise, calling the allegation misleading and an inaccurate portrayal of recent salary adjustments. In a statement responding to Mr Narube’s call for further cuts to MPs’ wages amid the global fuel crisis, the government said the figure ignores a series of prior measures — including the restoration of a pandemic-era pay cut — and misrepresents the scale of any increase.
Government spokespeople pointed out that the increase Narube cited in June 2024 included the reversal of a 20 per cent pay cut that was first introduced in March 2020 and remained in place for four years. The administration said that roll-back simply returned salaries to pre-COVID levels after a period in which public servants had accepted lower pay, and that, beyond that restoration, the “actual adjustment” implemented was 6.38 per cent. The statement also listed a string of other fiscal moves the government has made since taking office — such as raising the minimum wage, lifting social welfare allowances, clearing $650 million of student debt and increasing civil servant pay — framing those steps as part of a broader effort to ease cost-of-living pressures.
The government further rejected the blanket assertion that all ministers benefited from a pay rise. It said ministers for Finance, Education and Infrastructure accepted 15 per cent pay cuts, while the Prime Minister took a 3 per cent cut. “So the claim that ministers are sitting comfortably ‘ahead’ is simply false,” the statement read, adding that a 20 per cent reduction applied more recently means many ministers are “taking a real pay cut today.”
Narube, a former Reserve Bank of Fiji governor and leader of the minor Unity Fiji party, had urged deeper reductions in parliamentary wages as part of proposals to re-prioritise government spending while Fiji faces higher global fuel prices. The government rejected that framing as selective, saying the pay changes were never presented as the single remedy for the fuel shock but as “leadership by example” while broader measures are rolled out to support households, businesses and key sectors.
The administration also accused Narube of either incompetence or deliberate misinformation for repeating the 40 per cent claim. “For a former Reserve Bank governor and aspiring prime minister, this is not a small mistake,” the government said, arguing that Narube offered criticism without alternative policy prescriptions. The statement urged a more constructive public debate on solutions rather than, in its words, “recycled political attacks dressed up as economic analysis.”
This latest exchange marks an escalation in public scrutiny over political salaries and fiscal priorities as Fiji grapples with external cost pressures. The government’s rebuttal aims to correct the numerical record and to frame recent pay moves as part of a package of social and economic measures; Unity Fiji’s leader, however, has continued to press for further wage reductions for MPs as a symbolic and practical response to current economic strains.
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