Matt Johnston: Public sector bigwigs are getting huge pay perks without accountability
If project chiefs are being paid eye-watering amounts, they should be held responsible if things really cock up.
Opinion
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The Andrews Government thinks that to hire good people to lead its infrastructure agenda, it needs to entice them with extra cash.
Competition in the sector — between projects, states, or even countries — means there is also competition for talent.
This is a common private sector problem, but it appears to have infiltrated the public sector.
While pay packets in the commercial world are still much larger, the state’s remuneration tribunal says “labour market pressures” are impacting on taxpayer-funded salary decisions.
What’s odd about the situation — other than the time it took to hire a “general manager strategy” for the disastrous West Gate Tunnel project — is that there appears to be little extra accountability that comes with the perks.
In the commercial world, the chief executive of a big business would be paid mega bucks if she or he runs a steady ship, but would have their contract terminated if their company kept losing money.
When it comes to public sector infrastructure projects, when does that happen?
One could argue that it is the Minister who is accountable (or not, as is often the case these days).
But surely if we’re throwing cash at project chiefs, they should pay (with their jobs) if things really cock up.
Just look at the West Gate Tunnel, for example, which will run at least a year late, and the Melbourne Metro Tunnel that has blown its budget by $2.7 billion.
I don’t have a problem with paying good people decent money to run projects worth billions.
The pay-off could be big.
But if you’re going to treat taxpayers like shareholders to get this talent, there has to be some insurance for dud hires.
Otherwise fat cats will just have their cake and eat it too.
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