Governor Frances Adamson wins huge pay rise after Remuneration Tribunal finds she was Australia’s lowest paid head of state
South Australia’s Governor has received a taxpayer-funded pay rise after an official review found she was the country’s worst paid constitutional head of state.
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South Australia’s Governor has received a taxpayer-funded yearly pay rise worth almost $26,000 after an official review found she was the country’s worst paid constitutional head of state.
Australia’s former chief diplomat Frances Adamson earned $495,754 a year in 2024 after the late Queen approved her appointment as SA’s 36th Governor in October 2021.
But the state’s independent public sector pay watchdog this month awarded her a $25,966 pay rise – or 5.2 per cent – taking her yearly salary to $521,720 from February 1 next year.
The Remuneration Tribunal’s ruling, published online alongside an official Government Gazette notice, means the governor’s annual salary has risen almost $171,700 in three years.
Ms Adamson, the former Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade secretary who was ranked among The Advertiser’s Power 100, did not seek the pay rise nor provide a review submission.
Premier Peter Malinauskas also declined an invitation to present to the review. No other submissions were received.
Government records state Ms Adamson, who ratifies legislation, taxpayer appointments, proclamations, regulations or other parliamentary business by royal, left it to the tribunal’s “discretion”.
Cabinet discusses all Executive Council items except legislation, which both Houses of Parliament approve.
The tribunal, which conducts yearly reviews, has awarded the Governor – whose rent free residence is the Government House mansion on North Tce – multiple pay rises after warning in 2021 that a $351,015 annual wage was “materially lower” than elsewhere in Australia.
If this “anomaly” was not fixed, it risked showing it was “a lesser role” in SA, it said.
Tribunal members, President Matthew O’Callaghan, a former senior Fair Work Commission official, businesswoman Donny Walford and ex Adelaide Airport boss Mark Young, said they still held such concerns.
Their report found the median governor salary was $521,720, led by Tasmania’s Barbara Baker at $583,645 and Queensland’s Dr Jeannette Young at $522,225.
“The Tribunal continues to be of the view that the role of the Governor of South Australia should be regarded as comparable to … other states,” the report concluded.
“This approach recognises the significant importance of this unique role within the state.
“A departure from this approach would once again establish a significant difference in the remuneration payable to this and future Governors.
“(It would also) most likely lead to future very substantial remuneration adjustments.”
Governor-General Sam Mostyn’s $709,017 salary was excluded.
Federal parliament this year awarded her a more than $200,000 pay rise as the Constitution prevents the Governor-General’s salary from being changed while in office.
There is no NT nor ACT Governor.
A spokeswoman for Ms Adamson, who served 36 years as a public servant in Canberra and overseas including China and Britain, declined to comment.
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Originally published as Governor Frances Adamson wins huge pay rise after Remuneration Tribunal finds she was Australia’s lowest paid head of state
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