MP urges politicians to cop virus pay cut

Federal politicians are facing calls from within their own ranks to take a pay cut during the coronavirus-fuelled economic storm.

Nationals MP Pat Conaghan has backed Pauline Hanson's proposal to dock federal representatives' wages in solidarity with people joining dole queues around the country.

"I think it's inevitable," Mr Conaghan told Triple M Coffs Coast on Monday.

"I'm quite happy to do that."

The base annual salary for federal backbenchers is more than $210,000, while cabinet ministers rake in around $360,000.

Mr Conaghan wants pay cuts for all public servants earning more than $120,000 a year.

"If you're a magistrate, if you're a judge, if you're a senior bureaucrat, then I think the writing's on the wall. It would be the right thing to do," he said.

The Morrison government has requested a pay freeze for politicians, judges and senior public servants.

Mr Conaghan said well-paid professional athletes were taking a pay cut at a time when he was inundated with constituents losing their jobs.

"In my view, it would only be the right thing to do to take that pay cut," he said.