To media hysterics, Dan Andrews got a pay rise this week, making him the country’s highest paid premier or chief minister. But that’s not the whole story, as James Fitzgerald-Sice reports
It is perhaps a brave premier who pockets a pay rise when the RBA Governor is advising struggling young Australians to move back in with their parents to make ends meet. But this week Victoria’s Dan Andrews gained a 3.5 per cent pay rise — an additional $16,272.
His package is now $481,890, the highest pay of any premier or chief minister. It is set by an independent tribunal. But he could always knock it back, right?
Victoria’s premier package is more than five times average earnings of $94,000.40 per year — and the increase alone is very close to a year’s worth of base-rate jobseeker allowance of $18,020. Of course, the premier’s package pales in comparison with, say, Qantas chief Alan Joyce, and his base rate of $2.2 million. That’s not to mention Joyce’s various bonuses and share options.
How does Dan compare with others of his ilk?
Trying to get a handle on the relative salaries of the premiers and chief ministers becomes a little tricky, especially when you consider the Tasmanian premier oversees a state whose population is less than half that of Brisbane; or that the chief minister of the ACT earns more in total than a WA premier who oversees five times the population and over a thousand times the land area.
We pulled it all into a handy table.
| Position | Population of State/Territory | Salary | Salary/Population |
| NT Chief Minister Natasha Fyles | 232,605 | $325,392.00 | $1.40 |
| ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr | 454,499 | $371,910.00 | $0.82 |
| ACT Deputy Yvette Berry | 454,499 | $318,780.00 | $0.70 |
| TAS Premier Jeremy Rockliff | 557,571 | $301,397.00 | $0.54 |
| SA Premier Peter Malinauskas | 1,781,516 | $418,000.00 | $0.23 |
| WA Premier Roger Cook | 2,660,026 | $355,681.00 | $0.13 |
| WA Deputy Rita Saffioti | 2,660,026 | $302,878.00 | $0.11 |
| QLD Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk | 5,156,138 | $427,500.00 | $0.08 |
| VIC Premier Daniel Andrews | 6,503,491 | $481,890.00 | $0.07 |
| QLD Deputy Steven Miles | 5,156,138 | $376,000.00 | $0.07 |
| VIC Deputy Jacinta Allan | 6,503,491 | $409,000.00 | $0.06 |
| NSW Premier Chris Minns | 8,072,163 | $416,440.00 | $0.05 |
| NSW Deputy Prue Car | 8,072,163 | $350,329.00 | $0.04 |
Are we being well served?
So, at close to $500k (including up to $60,000 in expenses and allowances) does Daniel Andrews represent value for money? How would we know?
“It’s a very good question,” says UNSW economic professor Richard Holden.
“With a CEO, you have an obvious measure of performance with the share price and the return to shareholders,” says Holden, who is the current president of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia.
“It’s obviously a lot harder when it comes to political leaders – you don’t want to pay people for luck or for things they don’t control.”
Holden’s bottom line: given the impact a premier can have on individual lives, $500k represents a ‘rounding error’.
“People who run $1bn P & L packaging companies get more than that. I don’t think you can create incentives (for being a premier) through money. We should stop worrying about the nickel-and-dime stuff.”
But what about social equity?
The average wage (as captured by the wage price index) rose by 3.7 per cent in the March quarter compared with an inflation rate of 7.0 per cent. This adds up to a ‘real’ wage decline of 3.3 per cent.
Bill Browne, director of the democracy & accountability program at the Australia Institute, isn’t down on premiers. But he would like to see pay rises being spread around.
“Given that parliamentarians are among the very best paid people in Australia, it kind of follows from that, that those on lower incomes should get a similar pay rise, and are missing out.”
As for the various allowances enjoyed by premiers and chief ministers, Browne sees them as all part of democracy. “Parliamentarians need to be resourced in order to represent their electorates,” he says.
“Particularly in a country like Australia, where some electorates are the size of whole countries, we do need parliamentarians to be funded to travel across their electorates to consult with their communities, to have office spaces where people can bring concerns and so on.”
Alan Joyce selling his own Qantas shares into the buy-back, que?
James is studying a bachelor of Communication (Journalism) at the University of Technology Sydney. He is a producer at 2SER radio and contributor at UTS’s Central News.