Chief Minister Katy Gallagher told the ACT Remuneration Tribunal that the territory's difficult budget position means territory politicians can ''cope without a pay increase in 2013-14''.

The independent tribunal is conducting its annual review of MLA salaries, which were set at a base rate of $125,029 in 2012-13.

Ms Gallagher told ABC radio on Wednesday morning that if the tribunal decides to award a pay increase to MLAs, they have no choice but to take it. But it was up to MLAs what they did with the extra money.

“If they award you a pay rise more than you are comfortable with, then you make the decision about what you’ll do about that,” she said.

“I would be very happy to [donate the extra pay]. I work hard for my salary, but I think my salary is very good.”

Ms Gallagher has asked the tribunal, which awarded a 3.5 per cent pay rise to MLAs in 2012-13, to consider ''the territory's difficult economic position and the possible impact of the budget'' in its deliberations regarding remuneration increases.

The ACT government has forecast a deficit of $363 million in 2012-13 and $138 million in 2013-14, with a return to surplus not forecast until 2015-16.

''The return to surplus requires focused effort to restrain growth in expenditure,'' Ms Gallagher says in her submission.

''With this in mind, I strongly urge the tribunal to reserve any increase to remuneration to MLAs in this review. Effectively, a freeze for MLAs is proposed.''

Ms Gallagher said on Tuesday the ACT public service was being asked to accept a pay increase of 2 per cent in 2013-14 and a pay freeze for MLAs was a show of ''leadership''.

''I'm asking our public service to accept a fairly low pay offer because of the way our budget is and I think that it's only fair that we don't take a pay increase,'' she said.

Both Greens MLA Shane Rattenbury and Opposition Leader Jeremy Hanson supported the proposed pay freeze on ABC radio on Wednesday, but Mr Hanson said the timing was “ironic” given the Chief Minister’s calls for more MLAs in the ACT Assembly.

“On the one hand she’s proposing lets have more politicians spending tens of millions of dollars of taxpayer’s money, and then she’s really scratching around in the dirt to say let’s take a pay freeze for a year,” he said.

In her submission, Ms Gallagher also calls for a ''resettlement allowance'' for MLAs who lose their seat at territory elections, similar to arrangements for federal MPs. At present, territory politicians who lose their seat are not paid beyond polling day, but both the government and opposition support a bridging payment for departing MLAs who have to find new work.

The Chief Minister's submission on a resettlement allowance for MLAs who lose their seats suggests an entitlement of two weeks' pay for each year of service to the current Assembly, which would mean a maximum of eight weeks' pay.

Opposition Leader Jeremy Hanson has also made a submission to the tribunal calling for a similar allowance.

''Based on my discussions with the Chief Minister and with [ACT Greens MLA] Shane Rattenbury, there appears to be consensus that this issue needs to be addressed by the tribunal,'' the submission says.