NSW transport agency’s staff on high salaries balloons in two years

The number of public sector employees at NSW’s transport department on salaries over $150,000 has ballooned by more than two-thirds in just two financial years to almost 4900.

The surge in higher-paid staff comes as Transport for NSW’s new secretary Josh Murray works on plans to meet the Labor state government’s election promise to cull senior executive ranks by 15 per cent.

Transport for NSW secretary Josh Murray, left, and Coordinator-General Howard Collins.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

Transport for NSW’s annual report shows 4876 staff were on salaries of more than $150,000 at the end of June this year, a 71 per cent increase on the 2856 employees on those pay levels in the 2020-21 financial year.

Senior bureaucrat Howard Collins, who was Transport for NSW’s acting secretary for several months, received $730,261 this year, making him one of the highest-paid transport officials.

Collins, who is now the agency’s coordinator-general, missed out on the role as departmental secretary in July following the controversial appointment of Murray, a former chief of staff in the Iemma Labor government, who is on a salary of $588,000.

Transport for NSW said in a statement that it was committed to meeting the government’s policy to reduce senior executives in the public service by 15 per cent, and the process for doing so was underway.

Murray told a parliamentary hearing last month that he was looking for “efficiencies across the entire structure”.

A spokesperson said the agency’s overall employee headcount had increased due to internal restructuring, a record pipeline of infrastructure projects and the response to operational needs such as cyber-security and natural disasters.

A new enterprise agreement reached at the start of this year had also resulted in more people entering higher salary brackets, she said.

Transport for NSW had 16 executives on an average pay package of $504,757 this year, 118 on $362,689 and 746 on $257,516. The number of staff on salary bands between $125,001 and $150,000 rose to 3116 at the end of June this year, from 1881 in 2020-21. The agency has a workforce of almost 15,600 people.

Sydney Metro chief executive Peter Regan.Credit: Rhett Wyman

Sydney Metro’s annual report shows chief executive Peter Regan and two other executives were each paid an average of $603,048 this year.

The disclosure comes as Sydney Metro’s head of projects Tim Parker resigned last week to take up another role within government. Parker, who will depart Sydney Metro next month, has been in the job since 2018.

Some 59 staff at Sydney Metro, which is charged with delivering three new rail lines in Sydney, had an average pay package of $357,820 at the end of June, while 228 people averaged $254,049.

However, the agency is also paying about $2300 a day for each of the more than 500 people hired as contractors to work on the city’s driverless train projects. Rates of $2300 a day equate to more than half a million dollars annually if contractors remain at the agency for 12 months.

In a report released last week, the NSW auditor-general was critical of deficiencies in Sydney Metro’s oversight of contractors declaring conflicts of interest.

“Sydney Metro needs to improve how they manage contractors and how conflicts of interest are recorded and managed. Insufficient controls to identify and manage conflicts of interest could cause serious financial and reputational damage,” it said.

A Sydney Metro spokesperson said executive pay was calculated based on comparable salaries of those in similar positions in the public and private sectors.

She said an increase in the agency’s full-time workforce to more than 1300 staff at the end of June this year, from 754 staff in June 2021, reflected the fact that three mega projects, including a new rail line to Western Sydney Airport, were in full construction mode.

Other disclosures show Sydney Trains chief executive Matt Longland received $533,205 this year, while 20 senior managers at the rail operator had an average pay package of $357,688 and 117 $253,019.

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