If you’re one of the candidates vying for a seat in the 18th Niue Legislative Assembly after the General Election on May 29, if successful you can expect to earn at least $35,000 per year.
The Civil List Act prescribes the salaries and allowances of the members of the legislature, the Fono Ekepule.
In the 2019 amendment to the Civil List, the salaries were increased from the 2017 List.
| Annual Salary | Annual allowance | Total | |
| Member | $31,959 | $4,000 | $35,959 |
| Speaker | $36,511 | $6,000 | $42,511 |
| MAM | $45,095 | $6,000 | $51,095 |
| Minister | $56,789 | $8,000 | $62,789 |
| Premier | $80,785 | $10,000 | $90,785 |
The annual allowance is prescribed in the Civil List amended in 2017 is called the Entertainment and Residence allowance for the Premier, ‘to defray costs incurred by the Premier in relation to official duties, at official functions and to defray the cost of maintaining the Premier’s residence’.
There is no official residence for the Premier so every year, the Premier is paid a much higher allowance to meet the costs of maintaining his personal residence.
The annual allowance for Ministers, Members assisting a Minister (MAM), the Speaker and Members is to cover costs associated with official duties and representation at official functions.
When traveling on official business, the overseas travel allowance for the Premier is $500 per day, for the ministers it’s $350 per day, the Speaker and members can claim $200 per day travel allowance.
There is also an ‘Overseas entertainment allowance’ paid for every time the politicians travel on official business. For the Premier that is $450 per trip, for Ministers and Members assisting Ministers it’s $300 per trip and for the Speaker and Members they will be paid $250 per trip. This amount may change depending on the capacity in which the member is travelling for and by the country to be visited.
According to the government’s Recurrent budget, it will cost around $2.5 million dollars to cover the expenses of running the Fono Ekepule and the Fono Ikipule.
The annual expenditure budget for the Office of the Premier and Cabinet Services is estimated to be $1.4 million dollars.
The annual expenditure budget for the Niue Legislative Assembly for this current financial year is estimated to be $1.1 million dollars ending June 30th 2023.