darinsullivan.blogspot.com: $300,000 pay sweetener for top public servants

FIVE of Australia's most senior public servants are expected to be granted pay rises of between $250,000 and $300,000 to bring them into line with other public service bosses and high-flying corporate executives.

Current salary packages for the new Chief of the Defence Forces, the Tax Commissioner, the Auditor-General, the Chief of Customs and the Australian Statistician are expected to be boosted soon beyond their current $500,000 a year to $800,000 in line with recent rises granted to corporate regulators.
The one-off boost to the senior pay packages of "specified statutory officers" comes on top of a 3 per cent rise all five received last month as part of a general Remuneration Tribunal review of public service pay. According to government sources, a decision is expected soon that will greatly lift the salary packages of the five key public servants to provide parity with other senior public service decision-makers and salaries available in the corporate world.

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A spokeswoman for the Remuneration Tribunal declined to comment but confirmed the review for the five public service leaders and a review of department secretaries' salaries were under way.
Last month, the Remuneration Tribunal announced 22 per cent pay rises for the leaders of Australia's corporate regulators, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, the Australian Securities & Investments Commission, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission and the Solicitor-General, which took their annual packages to between $700,000 and $800,000.
After an outcry over the Reserve Bank board granting governor Glenn Stevens a $40,000 rise to $1.049 million a year, Wayne Swan ordered that the RBA's senior pay claims be handled by the Remuneration Tribunal in future.
In June, the tribunal launched a review of the remuneration of the Chief of the Defence Forces, David Hurley, Auditor-General Ian McPhee, Australian statistician Brian Pink, Tax Commissioner Michael D'Ascenzo and Customs chief executive Michael Carmody, who are all on between $504,820 and $539,580.
The review was designed to "address longstanding inequities and inconsistencies in the remuneration of public offices and assist in ensuring a closer alignment between remuneration and responsibilities".
The tribunal said the five public offices in the Specified Statutory office group were "singular", had "demanding responsibilities" and "each is invested with a high degree of autonomy". There were concerns that differences had developed between department secretaries' salaries and the statutory officers' pay.
Before the review began, the tribunal said: "Remuneration needs to be at least of a level to allow the commonwealth to attract people of capacity and standing - people who must undertake their responsibilities with the high levels of professionalism and commitment that the commonwealth expects but which, to an increasing extent, is taken for granted."
Greens leader Bob Brown said the government's attempts to keep a cap on corporate salaries were failing. "Revelations about million-dollar-pay rises for chief executives show the government's pathetic legislation is doing little to redress the imbalance between the big end of town and everyday Australians," he said.