SA Governor Hieu Van Le’s annual salary frozen at $315,608 as he turns down an increase

YOU don’t see this every day — a prominent state official declining a pay rise. SA Governor Hieu Van Le, we salute you.

South Australian Governor Hieu Van Le. Pic: Naomi Jellicoe

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GOVERNOR Hieu Van Le’s annual salary has been frozen at $315,608 in the first independent assessment of his pay, after neither he nor Premier Jay Weatherill argued for a rise.

Legislation passed by State Parliament last year gave the Remuneration Tribunal power for the first time to set how much the SA Governor earns, ending the traditional method of automatically giving him a pay packet equivalent to 75 per cent of a Supreme Court judge.

The pay freeze leaves Governor Van Le as one of the lowest-paid heads of state representatives in the nation and came after he rebuffed a Remuneration Tribunal offer to ask for more.

Australia’s Governor-General Peter Cosgrove is paid $425,000, while NSW Governor David Hurley receives $445,100 and Tasmanian Governor Kate Warner gets $427,000.

The pay freeze is a stark contrast to an overhaul of state MPs’ wages in December, where their base salary was rose from $157,000 to $187,294 as other allowances including travel were axed.

The result lifted a minister’s wage from $274,802.50 to $327,817, giving them a bigger annual pay packet than the Governor. Mr Weatherill’s pay packet increased by $60,000, to $374,648.

In a written statement to Parliament last year proposing the change in setting the Governor’s wage, Mr Weatherill said it was an anomaly for the Remuneration Tribunal not to have control.

“The officers referred to the Remuneration Tribunal have the benefit of establishing appropriate salary arrangements including superannuation and salary sacrificing,” Mr Weatherill said.

The Remuneration Tribunal wrote to Governor Van Le in April asking him to make a formal submission on whether his pay should be changed, and asked the same of Mr Weatherill.

Governor Van Le wrote back a month later saying he would not ask for an increase and the Crown Solicitor’s Office, on Mr Weatherill’s behalf, did the same.

The Remuneration Tribunal reports it then concluded there were no grounds for a change.

“The Amending Act came into operation on 11 February 2016. Prior to this date, the salary of the Governor was $315,608 per annum,” the Remuneration Tribunal reports.

“The transitional provisions of the Amending Act provide that the salary of the Governor, as determined by the Tribunal, cannot be lower than the rate applying before. “It is appropriate in the circumstances that the salary of the office of the Governor remain at $315 608 per annum.

“The Governor and the Premier made no submission in support of any change in the salary.”

Governor Van Le was on Monday given the nation’s highest honour, a Companion of the Order of Australia, in the Queen’s Birthday honours for his long record of service to the community.

He arrived in Australia as a boat person fleeing the Vietnam War in the 1970s.