The Opposition leader believes all workers need to be paid higher wages.
It comes after the Remuneration Authority on Tuesday recommended a nearly 3 percent pay increase for MPs until the next election.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins said he already earned a "good income" and was a "well-paid New Zealander".
"My focus, frankly, is on the incomes of other New Zealanders and making sure they are increasing to keep pace with the rising cost of living," the former Prime Minister told AM.
Hipkins was concerned Government policies would prevent that from happening, he said.
"I think this would be less of an issue for politicians if the Government of the day - in this case it's Christopher Luxon's National-led Government - were making sure other New Zealanders incomes were rising to the extent that MPs incomes are."
According to the Remuneration Authority, New Zealand MPs' pay rates sat well behind most Westminster-style democracies including Ireland, which had a similar population to Aotearoa.
But Hipkins said workers' incomes should be the priority.
"I think that's the bigger issue, we want to make sure we're creating an economy where everybody's income is increasing so that they can cope with the cost of living - that's not what this Government are doing."
According to Christopher Luxon's office, the Prime Minister "indicated he does not want or need" a pay rise "so any increase he received would be donated to charity".
When asked by AM last month whether he deserved a pay rise, Luxon said such decisions were out of his hands.
"Those are decisions for an independent remuneration authority and, again, it's important Prime Ministers and MPs aren't involved with setting their pay.
"Again, we've got an independent remuneration authority... It's designed in way so you don't need to have a Prime Minister or an MP commenting on or setting their own pay."
The pay rise announced on Tuesday meant a backbench MP would earn $168,000, a Cabinet minister just over $304,000, while the Prime Minister's salary will rise to $484,000 in the first year.
"Even when we look at the state MPs in Australia, most of them are ahead of New Zealand MPs except for Tasmania," Remuneration Authority chair Geoff Summers told AM on Wednesday.
The cost-of-living crisis was considered when deciding the new pay rates but did not meet the threshold for "times of economic hardship", he said.
Newshub.
