Sam Mostyn’s big fat pay rise isn’t what you think. The PM should have said so

Sam’s big fat pay rise isn’t quite what you think it is.

Look, I am as irritated as the rest of you that we still have a governor-general in this country. Bring on the republic ASAP. And I’m even more irritated by the appointment of Sam Mostyn, now Samantha, as governor-general because she is way too good for that gig. Her contributions to Australian life go well beyond the parade of military blokes we’ve had so far.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in April announced Sam Mostyn as Australia’s next governor-general.Credit: AAP

Get as worked up as you like about soldiers and sailors, but we’ve had a lot of peace in this country, thank God, and their service isn’t what it used to be. Comparing like for like, Mostyn has contributed to not-for-profits most of her working life, including six years on our most serious battlefield, violence against women. She was a director and then chair of Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety, before running the Women’s Economic Equality Taskforce for the government. Sure, she has no brass buttons and no medals, but this is all hard, intense work. No pension. Fighting the war on women doesn’t come with lifelong wealth.

So I am not – at all – infuriated by the pay rise she’s just received. Here’s why. Neither Mostyn nor the PM gets a say in what the governor-general earns. It’s a formula, tied to what the chief justice earns. Here’s the relevant bit from the new bill to set the new G-G’s pay: “In line with past practice, the proposed salary is calculated by reference to the estimated average salary of the Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia over the notional five-year term of the appointment of the Governor-General.”

Think that’s too much money? Not reasonable to equate the job to the chief justice? Sure. But the governor-general is, in practice, the head of state and occasionally sacks the government. That’s the bit that’s ridiculous for 21st century Australia – not the wage we are paying for the position.

Now here’s the relevant bit for the commentators who have their jocks in knots.

“Where, in the past, a Governor-General has been the recipient of other Commonwealth entitlements – such as a judicial pension – the annual salary has been adjusted accordingly. Ms Mostyn is not a recipient of any such entitlements.”

Let me put this plainly for the people down the back who can’t add up.

Sam Mostyn, sigh, Samantha Mostyn, is not earning nearly double what David Hurley earned during his time as governor-general.

Here’s how it works. He had his G-G pay but he was also getting a military pension. Mostyn, as the bill goes, is not a recipient of any such entitlements.

Five of the past six G-Gs have been in receipt of some kind of Commonwealth or military pension. Has anyone bothered to do the freaking maths here? What’s a fat military pension? Could be half a mill, couldn’t it? Everyone else has to divest their investments and even their super. If someone had told me to divest myself of super at Mostyn’s age to become governor-general, I would have told them where to stick their gig.

I’ll tell you this for nothing – it is entirely unlikely she will be a regulation ribbon-cutter with nice hats and good manners. While it is true that Mostyn is a goody two shoes and will continue being a goody two shoes for eternity, from school captain in primary school to school councillor at Narrabundah College (public schooling for the win), through AFL commissionering to now the G-G, she will be as politely tough as she has always been.

I can’t see her letting her new job get in the way of trying to make this country better, its politicians more accountable and its processes more transparent. Love that for us. Need that for us.

I say this as a person who is a goody two shoes on the inside, someone whose goody two shoes-iness is longing to get out. I observe her kind of diplomacy with just a little jealousy (but not enough to make me ever want to actually be like that because the stress of keeping my opinions to myself might kill me).

Speaking of opinions, I do wonder about this government’s judgment calls. How hard would it have been for someone in government – ah, say the prime minister – to explain to everyone how Mostyn’s pay would compare to Hurley’s pay? Straight out of the blocks. Not hard. Not much work.

What the government did was not fair, to Mostyn nor to the rest of us. Bring on the republic. I’d be happy with Mostyn as the first president. Doubt she’d ever drop anyone in it the way this lot did.

Jenna Price is a visiting fellow at the Australian National University and a regular columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald.