AN embarrassing oversight has seen Premier Campbell Newman pocket the same salary as US President Barack Obama.

Acting Premier Jeff Seeney says the revelation has made him, and almost everybody, feel very uncomfortable and the government will reign its wage bill back in.

Mr Seeney admitted he has been caught out unaware and didn't fully understand the pay rise he announced last week while Mr Newman holidayed in Vietnam.

Details of the salary increases were published by the clerk of parliament in a 72-page document late on Monday.

It revealed that extra loadings MPs receive for being on committees or serving as ministers would also be linked to the $57,000 hike in base pay.

"It is an obscure linkage I wasn't aware of," Mr Seeney admitted, without offering an apology.

That means, from July 1 Mr Newman's salary rose by $120,000 to $398,000.

That's on par with the US president, and just $70,000 less than Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

Mr Seeney, who usually serves as deputy, pockets an extra $100,000 and ministers $90,000 more.

The government will "almost inevitably" reduce the pay rise at the next sitting week of parliament in August.

"We will be considering what changes need to made to produce an outcome which is a little bit more comfortable than the one which has been produced," Mr Seeney said.

MPs are expected to keep the $57,000 base pay rise, but the extra hikes for office bearers are likely to be scrapped or reduced.

It is also not clear whether the government would de-couple state MP salaries from their federal counterparts.

Mr Seeney said one option could be to set up a new independent tribunal.

The Queensland Council of Unions president John Battams said the government has failed to coherently explain the way forward and questioned its handling of state finances.

"It's been a bungle from start to finish. It's a political disaster," he said.

"On one hand they have inflicted austerity measures on the state, but on the other let such a huge pay rise occur."

Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk asked for cabinet documents to be released to see whether it's "amateur hour" or "extreme greed" driving the decision.

The premier, who returns from holiday on Thursday, must also declare if he has confidence in Mr Seeney.

Mr Seeney announced the pay rise last week after Crown Law warned that a 2009 wage freeze by former Premier Anna Bligh was unlawful and had forced MPs' pay to slip too far behind their federal counterparts.

State MP wages should be just $500 less.

The government has promised to offset any wage increase by slashing electoral and political party funding.