Peter Malinauskas says advertised spin doctor salary incorrect and ‘doesn’t pass the pub test’

The state government is hastily rewriting a controversial ad for a new spin doctor after the Premier denied claims they would be paid upwards of $400,000.

Premier Peter Malinauskas. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Naomi Jellicoe

• Row erupts over taxpayer funded spin doctor

An official new chief spin doctor’s taxpayer-funded salary will be cut by more than $100,000 after the Premier admitted it failed the “pub test”.

The Department of Premier and Cabinet had promoted a Government Advertising and Insights Hub executive director job with an annual pay band of between $257,462 and $429,104.

But after a fierce public backlash, Peter Malinauskas intervened, forcing his department chief Damien Walker – the state’s highest paid public servant – to scrap the job advert.

DPC will readvertise a “far more reasonable” annual salary less than $300,000, he said.

The Premier, who said his government was cutting “spin doctor” numbers, told FIVEaa Radio on Wednesday: “What’s stunned I think me is the prospect this person could get paid over 400 grand a year. Does it pass the pub test? No. That’s why it’s not going to happen.”

Multiple rows later erupted as the opposition kept questioning and the premier rejected Liberal calls for a Joint Parliamentary Committee to oversee advertising spending.

The Premier, who said the marketer would “never” earn almost as much as his $436,000 salary, told MPs DPC hired an executive on the same pay band under the Liberal government that “wasn’t an open selection process”.

“The difference between then and now, apart from that band being less if you adjust for inflation, is, of course … it wasn’t a merit-based appointment,” he told parliament.

Taxpayers spend up to $40m a-year on advertising but that has been cut in 2024 by $7.9m.

Opposition Leader Vincent Tarzia said on Wedneaday night: “For the Premier to back pedal and say the salary will be reduced is telling.”

He said during a cost of living crisis, and record ramping levels, Labor was “more focussed on spin”.

The premier said he was not aware of the salary or involved in job hiring.

Mr Malinauskas told FIVEAA on Wednesday morning the salary range on the ad was not accurate, and that it would be withdrawn and replaced with a one that’s “far more reasonable.” When pressed, he said it would be under $300,000 and “more likely in the mid 200s”.

The Premier told parliament on Tuesday that the government was working on a new, centralised PR unit, and that the position would be heading up the department.

“We are consolidating and actually reducing the number of people that are characterised as spin doctors across government to realise a whole of government saving,” Mr Malinauskas said. He said the high reported salary “fundamentally” didn’t pass the pub test.

A political row erupted over the job after the opposition criticised it as “tone deaf” during a cost of living crisis.

Mr Malinauskas, who the Liberals dubbed “Mali from marketing”, said a new centralised unit was reasonable and responsible public spending after an internal review recommended the changes.

Industry sources said a similar private sector job pays $180,000, meaning the proposed city-based public service bureaucrat, for a yet to be launched advertising unit, would earn a higher remuneration than chief executives of several public service agencies.

Records show taxpayers paid $52,170 to BDO Services to review hub plans before its launch in early 2025.

Outgoing DPC chief executive Damien Walker, whose department will manage the unit, earns $760,035.

Recreation and Sport chief executive Kylie Taylor earns $298,486, SA Productivity Commission boss Steve Whetton earns $343,489 and Premier’s Delivery Unit head Rik Morris is paid $386,173.

Originally published as Peter Malinauskas says advertised spin doctor salary incorrect and ‘doesn’t pass the pub test’