There’s quite literally never been a better time to be a politician. Federal MPs have just been granted a $4,000 pay rise, taking their annual base salary to over $200,000 for the first time.

The 2 percent pay rise kicks in on July 1 this year, and it follows another 2 percent pay rise our federal politicians received in January last year. According to the Remuneration Tribunal, the independent body that sets politicians’ pay, the average pay rise for workers in the private sector over the past 12 months has been 1.7 percent.

On top of their new salary of $203,000, federal MPs receive 15 percent superannuation and generous allowances. The current median wage in Australia is $54,000, meaning most politicians are set to earn nearly four times that.

But that’s not where the good news ends for our elected representatives. On July 1, the same day their pay rise kicks in, they will also benefit from a 2 percent cut in the top income tax rate that parliament voted through earlier this year.

Stew on that while you’re sitting in your mouldy rental property.

Politicians Bloody Love Books

You’d think a salary of $203,000 might be enough to cover book purchases, but in addition to their healthy pay packet federal MPs also have access to a publications allowance. That means they can buy books and subscribe to magazines using taxpayer funds.

And boy do they like books. Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce made full use of his publications allowance by purchasing a copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone as well as Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. I feel like someone should point out to him that there’s a lot that goes in between those two books, so he’s probably going to be very confused.

Joyce also picked up a copy of Building a Minecraft City. While the idea of the Deputy Prime Minister playing Minecraft and catching up on Harry Potter is very appealing, politicians often use their publications allowance to donate books to charity, or to give out at school assemblies.

Malcolm Turnbull’s publications spend is pretty boring, sadly. He only lists subscriptions to The Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian.

The award for the most intellectually impressive list of book purchases probably goes to Greens senator Scott Ludlam. Ludlam bought copies of Why the Future is Workless by Australian writer Tim Dunlop, Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus: How Growth Became the Enemy of Prosperity, Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies, Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers and Capitalism: A Ghost Story.

Ok mate, we get it. You’re smart and you don’t like capitalism.

Look, good on our politicians for reading. But Barnaby Joyce is set to earn $416,000. Surely he can afford his own copies of Minecraft tutorials?