Matt Johnston: Mega salary of Suburban Rail Loop FIFO boss epitomises Allan government
The fact Suburban Rail Loop chief Frankie Carroll is paid almost $300,000 more than the Prime Minister speaks volumes about the Allan government’s warped financial logic — but that’s only part of the story.
If there was a decision that epitomised the Allan government’s warped financial logic, it would be the one to pay the boss of its Suburban Rail Loop almost $300,000 a year more than our Prime Minister.
Frankie Carroll, who has led the SRL Authority since 2021, last year pocketed between $900,000 and $910,000 a year in salary and superannuation benefits.
Anthony Albanese raked in $622,000.
The boss of the Premier’s department, Jeremi Moule, earns about $770,000.
Mr Carroll’s package is, to borrow a phrase from the man who appointed him, former premier Dan Andrews, eye-watering.
But it is only part of the story.
The state’s independent public sector pay-setting tribunal actually advised the government to pay him much less than this.
The tribunal recommended a healthy package of $680,000-$700,000 — about $200,000 higher than the public sector pay cap for similar roles.
That recommendation caused a stir, so imagine the response to his actual package.
Of course, the government is not bound by such advice, despite giving the impression it is whenever it waves through recommendations to boost MP pay.
But why Mr Carroll was deserving of such mega bucks remains unclear.
The Herald Sun asked, but another hallmark of this government is its inability to provide straight answers to simple questions.
When this newspaper initially asked the SRL Authority to explain Mr Carroll’s pay, a spinner mumbled something about it including “outstanding leave entitlements”.
They also pointed to advice “transparently published on the VIRT website”, which says the man should be paid $680,000 to $700,000.
Perhaps the extra cream on top has something to do with his extraordinary travel habits, which one Labor source said included frequent stays in Queensland, from where he was poached.
When the government was asked about his salary, it said that the SRL was the biggest infrastructure project in the state’s history, and the “position reflects the specialist technical skills and experience needed to plan, design, and deliver this project of national significance”.
Fair enough – although Mr Carroll has a history as a finance guy rather than an engineer.
A spokesman also tried to claim his pay included four years of salary increases worth between 1.5 and 3 per cent, along with superannuation and “accrued annual leave and long service leave”.
As if those things would magically inflate $700,000 to $900,000 in four years.
There is already an assumption that the SRL is gold-plated, and that the Big Build is synonymous with largesse and blowouts.
By awarding the SRL CEO an inflated package the government also set a dangerous precedent for the pay of other senior executives recruited to the job.
It’s hard to get a read on Mr Carroll’s performance; he appears to have annoyed senior ministers while some industry figures think he’s been good to deal with.
Whether Labor backs him in on this pay packet saga or leaves him out to dry will show whether this lucrative five year contract will also be his last.
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