An Australian Senate committee has revealed that the country’s mail chief is the nation’s highest-paid public servant and made A$5.6 million (US$4.3 million) last year.
The disclosure came despite objections from Australia Post Corp that making the salary information public could attract media attention and damage its brand.
The Communications and Environment Committee announced on Tuesday that Australia Post managing director Ahmed Fahour was paid A$4.4 million salary plus an A$1.2 million bonus in the last fiscal year — more than 10 times the prime minister’s salary of A$507,000.
By contrast, US Postal Service chief executive and postmaster general Megan Brennan’s salary was US$286,137 last year.
Australia Post had argued that revealing the salary package was not in the public interest.
Australia Post and its top executives “may become targets of unwarranted media attention,” the agency said in correspondence with the committee.
“This may lead to brand damage for Australia Post which, when operating in a competitive market, may be significantly detrimental to our business and future profitability,” Australia Post said.
Committee chairman James Paterson yesterday said that no senator on his committee agreed with Australia Post that the disclosure was contrary to the public interest.
Chief executives of publicly listed Australian companies are required to disclose their compensation at shareholder annual meetings and public sector executives should not be held to a lower standard of transparency, Paterson said.
“It’s a matter for the Australia Post board and their remuneration committee, and I trust them to make those decisions, but it’s not appropriate to shield those decisions from public scrutiny,” Paterson told Australian Broadcasting Corp.
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