Executive pay

The Northern Territory government’s plan to save millions by freezing the pay of public service executives might be delayed, but Premier Michael Gunner is confident it won’t be denied.

Shadow agriculture minister Joel Fitzgibbon says the federal government’s North Queensland flood-recovery office is a needless “layer of time-eating bureaucracy” and the salary of its head, former Liberal Party federal president Shane Stone, would be better spent directly by the state government.

There is an element of self-serving circularity in the arguments used to justify high executive salaries. But lowering the ceilings on SES pay could be a step to re-energising ‘frank and fearless’ policymaking.

Women in the APS are paid less on average than their male colleagues, mostly because they are outnumbered at senior ranks. And executive pay increases are outstripping the rest of the public service.

Faced with an economic slowdown and worsening budget deficit, WA has taken another dramatic step in its cost-cutting efforts, announcing that public service bosses, politicians and council CEOs will have their pay frozen for the next four years.

The VPS executive offer is “unattractive and uncompetitive”, claims a report commissioned by Premier Daniel Andrews. In addition to scoring poorly against other states, perverse incentives plague the system.

Airservices Australia maintains its reputation is being dragged through the mud and that information about executive remuneration from its annual report is being misrepresented. The stakes are not trivial; a Senate inquiry into the agency’s performance remains ongoing.