The overall cost, including support for cabinet and regional parliamentary offices, is now $39.7million - for our 40 state MPs - a 24 per cent increase on the cost six years ago.

In the past six years the public servant superannuation liability, which is unfunded, has increased by 40 per cent to a net $5.2 billion and is due to hit $6 billion by 2016.

Public servant entitlements like annual leave and long service leave have increased by 68 per cent over the six years to $674million next financial year.

The public servant wages bill has grown from $1.82 billion to $2.1 billion, or equivalent to $4000 for every Tasmanian.

In 1998 the major parties used their combined voting clout to cut the numbers in the Parliament from 54 to 40 - 35 to 25 in the House of Assembly and 19 to 15 in the Legislative Council. The move was supposed to produce savings but this never happened.

In the past six years House of Assembly costs, including wages for politicians, have risen by 41 per cent to $7.6 million, while costs of the Legislative Council have risen by 42 per cent to $6.4 million.

The cost of cabinet has increased by 24 per cent to almost $20million, while other costs in maintaining Parliament have increased by 29 per cent to $5.8million.

The public servant superannuation scheme was closed off in 1999 to all new entrants but the massive liability keeps increasing.

Next financial year agencies and the government will have to find almost $500 million to pay out retiring public servants, because the government fritted away $1.5billion saved over the years to off-set the liability. By 2016 this annual call on the government, just to pay out retirees, is estimated to hit $570 million.