Brisbane City Council expense of office allowances to be reviewed

An independent tribunal will consider the pay and superannuation benefits of all Brisbane councillors after revelations of generous allowances to office bearers.

HEFTY allowances that have been paid directly into the personal bank accounts of senior Brisbane councillors for decades will be re-examined by an independent tribunal by the end of the year.

It follows a Sunday Mail investigation that revealed the office allowances — which are paid to the lord mayor, council opposition leader and council chairs — were being treated as additional taxable income.

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Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner on Thursday unveiled the terms of reference for the independent renumeration tribunal, which will reconvene before the end of the year to consider the salaries, allowances and superannuation benefits of all councillors.

While the tribunal has previously considered the salaries and allowances of councillors, it has never reviewed their superannuation, set at 20 per cent under Lord Mayor Jim Soorley in the 1990s.

The tribunal has been reconvened earlier than scheduled, and will include former senior deputy president of the Fair Work Commission Peter Richards, former state Labor speaker John Mickel as well as Sharon Doyle – a managing director of a corporate finance advisory firm.

Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner and deputy mayor Krista Adams. Picture: AAP/Dan Peled

Cr Schrinner on Thursday insisted he had not created the issues associated with councillor remuneration, but he was “certainly going to fix them”.

“That’s what the tribunal will do,” he said.

“We will hear their recommendations before the end of this year, the last meeting of council in December.

“We will accept their recommendations and they will be implemented as soon as possible.”

Under the current expense of office allowance scheme, the lord mayor is entitled to about $99,767 a year, while the council opposition leader and council chairs are each entitled to $20,320 a year.

The direct payment of the allowance into bank accounts was first established by the council in 1994, modelled on the federal system.

Cr Schrinner said the tribunal would be able to consider whether any purchases or expenses were made public.

“All of those matters are in the terms of reference and can be considered by the tribunal,” he said.

“I know they will consider them.”

Opposition leader Jared Cassidy said Cr Schrinner had been “dragged kicking and screaming” to reconvene the tribunal, and Labor would stop the allowances being paid into personal bank accounts.