Fourteen department secretaries are the highest public service earners with salaries of more than $900k a year. The PM is jealous.
If public service salaries were a golf tournament DoHAC secretary Blair Comley PSM would be in a 12-way tie for third, coming up the 18th fairway.
Mr Comley has been listed among the highest earners in the public service receiving pay packets of up to $970,000 a year.
His average yearly salary of $928,340 in his role overseeing the Department of Health and Aged Care and managing 5984 employees, puts him in a pack of 12 with just two other colleagues pocketing more, according to data obtained by the Daily Telegraph.
Mr Comley was appointed DoHAC secretary on 17 July 2023, having led the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet between 2014 and 2017 and before that the Commonwealth Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency from 2011 to 2013.
Professor Glyn Davis, appointed secretary for the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet in 2022 after previously serving as Melbourne University’s vice-chancellor, was the highest earning public servant listed with a salary of $977,200 a year. He manages just 1306 employees, the smallest of the 14 departments.
Second on the list was Treasury secretary Dr Steven Kennedy PSM, previously serving as secretary to the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Cities and Regional Development, with a current pay packet of $952,770 a year.
Mr Comley’s cohort at $928,340 a year includes Attorney General secretary Katherine Jones, Finance secretary Jenny Wilkinson, Defence secretary Greg Moriarty and Education secretary Tony Cook.
Mr Moriarty and Home Affairs secretary Stephanie Foster, also on $928,340 a year, are arguably the most hard done by, supervising 18,391 and 15,223 public servants respectively.
All department secretaries also receive a meal allowance of up to $204 a day and two domestic airline lounge memberships, according to the Daily Telegraph.
As a comparator, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese earns “just” $586,950 a year.