Firefighters union boss Peter Marshall paid $547,000

Peter Marshall’s pay has jumped to $547,398, more than double most union leaders and almost as much as the Prime Minister.

Peter Marshall is the national secretary of the United Firefighters Union. He received received $547,398 last financial year - almost as much as the Prime Minister. Picture: Aaron Francis

Australia’s highest-paid union leader, United Firefighters Union secretary Peter Marshall, received $547,398 last financial year, almost as much as the Prime Minister’s salary and more than double the amount paid to most national union leaders.

Documents filed with the soon-to-be-abolished Registered Organisations Commission show Mr Marshall was paid $456,834 as the union’s Victorian secretary, plus $5711 for a car and income protection insurance.

In a separate filing with the commission, documents show Mr Marshall was paid an additional $84,853 as the union’s national secretary for the financial year ending June 30, 2022.

After becoming Prime Minister last year, Mr Albanese was on a salary of $549,000 before a 2.75 per cent pay rise to MPs increased his annual pay to $564,000

Mr Marshall is paid $83,000 more than Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, who is the country’s highest-paid state leader and earns $464,000.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk earns $427,500, NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet receives $407,980, and federal ­Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is paid $401,000.

Mr Marshall has held the positions of national and Victorian secretary since 2002 and has been paid for both jobs for 20 years.

His salary package is substantially higher than other national union representatives, including the ACTU leadership.

Disclosure statements filed by the union to the commission last year record Mr Marshall as receiving $494,219 in remuneration – $445,721 for the Victorian position and $48,498 for the national job. However, he said the wrong amount had been submitted in the 2020-21 disclosure statements and the correct sum for his nat­ional role was $84,854 as recorded in financial reports separately submitted to the commission.

“In relation to the Victorian secretary wage, I make no comment other than it is no different to the entitlements of the senior officer classifications that I represent,” he said on Tuesday.

The union said it would be making a fresh disclosure statement to the commission to ­address the error.

The union’s Victorian branch has made $368,000 in payments over more than three years to Quintessential Services, a business owned by Mr Marshall’s brother, Warren Marshall, including $157,000 last financial year. Documents stated the latest payments were for website and IT-related matters.

According to the latest annual salary disclosures made to the commission by employer and union representatives, the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Paul Guerra received $612,186 last ­financial year, compared to $505,000 declared in the previous 12 months.

The Pharmacy Guild of Australia declared that its national president Trent Twomey received $396,594 and a further $32,000 in non-cash benefits including flights for his spouse to accompany him to an overseas conference.

The guild’s Victorian president Anthony Tassone was paid $247,000 last financial year.

A raft of employer­ organisations are not ­required to declare the remuneration of senior employees to the commissi­on, and several chief executives for national ­employer organisations are understood to earn significantly more than Mr Guerra.

Many of the union officials earning more than $200,000 worked for the Construction, ­Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union, including its con­struction division national sec­retary Dave Noonan, who was paid $280,435, and NSW con­struc­tion secretary Darren Green­field, who earned $276,072.

Mr Greenfield’s two deputies, Rob Kera and Michael Greenfield, were paid $258,000 and $239,000 respectively, while state president Rita Mallia received about $235,000, with an extra $110,000 paid to the union for her work on boards and committees.

CFMEU Victorian construction division secretary John Setka declared a $236,815 salary and $13,854 for a car. The branch also paid $123,050 in legal services on behalf of Mr Setka.

Legislation was passed in December abolishing the Australian Building and Construction Commission and the Registered Organisations Commission, des­cribed by Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke as “ineffective and discredited institutions, more concerned about prosecuting workers and their representatives than tackling rampant wage theft or addressing workplace safety, or educating and promoting good workplace relations”.

In a statement on the ROC website, the commission states all of its functions will be transferred to the Fair Work Commission.

“It is important to understand that this does not change the ongoing compliance obligations of registered organisations under the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Act 2009 (known as the RO Act),” it adds.

“The RO Act is being changed to transfer all the obligations and responsibilities of registered organisations that are currently regulated by the ROC to the FWC.”