Pay rise for North East Link executives, including a principal project specialist raking in $527,553

Special exemptions have been approved to boost the pay of senior executives well above the strict salary limits set for their taxpayer-funded positions.

Executives working on Victoria’s most expensive road project, the North East Link, are being paid super-sized salaries despite a $10bn cost blowout.

The Herald Sun can reveal special exemptions from the state’s pay-setting tribunal have recently been approved to boost the pay of three senior executives well above the strict salary limits set for their taxpayer-funded positions.

It includes a huge $527,553 annual salary for a principal project specialist – $126,446 more than the position’s remuneration band.

Another senior director will be paid more than $50,000 a year above the set limit, while a third design specialist will take home $10,000 more than the official salary cap.

The North East Link is Victoria’s most expensive road project.

It comes just a month after Premier Jacinta Allan revealed the cost of building the road had blown out to $26bn.

The project was first spruiked, in 2016, to cost just $10bn but was later revised to $15.8bn when designs were locked in.

The bulk of the blowout, according to the government’s cost analysis, is due to a change in the scope of the project.

The new pay advice follows confirmation in June 2023 that the director of the North East Link Tolling Corporation had been approved to be paid a total of $435,000 – more than $50,000 above the salary band for this position.

Premier Jacinta Allan revealed the cost blowout last month. Picture: David Caird

It also confirms that the chief executive of Major Road Projects Victoria – the agency with direct oversight of the North East Link project – will be paid more than $111,000 over the respective band for this role.

Senior executives have a base salary and maximum set by the Victorian Independent Remuneration Tribunal every year.

A tribunal report – obtained by the Herald Sun – last year revealed the combined salaries of 25 of Victoria’s Big Build bosses exceeded $12m a year.

Some were being paid double the salary caps in place for public servants in equivalent roles in oth­er departments – and up to 70 per cent more than the Premier.

“Projects of this scale and complexity require specialist skills and experience, and we want to ensure we’ve got the right people to deliver the major transport infrastructure required to keep pace with Victoria’s rapid population growth,” a government spokesman said.

Some Big Build executives are being paid double the salary caps.

“Ensuring we have the best people working on our Big Build means we can build Victoria’s biggest-ever road project, open the Metro Tunnel and complete the West Gate Tunnel Project – projects that will cut commute times for Victorians and transform the way we travel.”

But the opposition spokesman for Major Projects, David Southwick, said revelations of the inflated salaries couldn’t have come at a worse time.

“At a time when the cost of North East Link is blowing out by billions, it’s unfathomable that Labor would give such huge pay rises to executives,” he said.

“As everyday Victorians struggle with the cost-of-living crisis, Labor is squandering more of taxpayers’ money with unnecessary pay rises on a project that is billions over budget.