ALP offers 9pc pay rise for public servants

Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 4 : 14-Oct-26

The Community & Public Sector Union recently called for Australia’s federal public servants to receive a pay rise of 15 per cent over three years. However, the Australian Public Service’s chief negotiator Alison Stott has announced the federal government’s preliminary pay offer of nine per cent over three years; it comprises annual pay rises of 3.2 per cent in 2027, three per cent in 2028 and 2.8 per cent in the following year. Stott adds that about 83 per cent of eligible public servants will receive pay rises of more than nine per cent; she notes that some lower-paid employees will receive extra wage increases, while others will earn more as they progress through their salary range.

CORPORATES
COMMUNITY AND PUBLIC SECTOR UNION, AUSTRALIAN PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION

CBA staff stand-off ends with 13pc pay rise deal

Original article by Jack Derwin
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 14-Oct-26

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has secured an in-principle deal with the Finance Sector Union for a new enterprise agreement, following six months of negotiations. The wage deal includes pay rises over three years across the bank’s operations, with the size of the increases linked to pay bands; it includes a pay rise of 13 per cent over three years for the bank’s lowest-paid employees. The FSU says the pay deal will set a strong starting point for negotiations with the nation’s other major banks over the next year. The CBA has also agreed to establish an artificial intelligence committee.

CORPORATES
COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, FINANCE SECTOR UNION

Review puts top bureaucrats’ pay under spotlight

Original article by Nicola Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 17-Jun-26

The independent Remuneration Tribunal is undertaking a 14-month review of senior federal public servants’ remuneration packages. It will assess the salaries of the top 26 bureaucrats, whose salaries range from $816,000 to $1,035,690 a year. The tribunal is seeking feedback from the public as to whether their salaries and benefits are "appropriate", and it recently completed the first public consultation phase of the review. Departmental secretaries are entitled to a range of benefits, including domestic airline lounge memberships, business-class airfares and relocation expenses if they do not live in Canberra.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. REMUNERATION TRIBUNAL

Elliott drops legal case against ANZ over unpaid bonus

Original article by Angira Bharadwaj, James Eyers
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 18 : 25-Feb-26

The ANZ Bank withheld some $32m worth of bonuses to some current and former executives in 2025, in response to the regulatory failing that resulted in a record fine. The executives included former CEO Shayne Elliott, who subsequently pursued legal action to recover more than $13.5m in bonuses that had been cancelled. Elliott contended that ANZ had breached the terms of his departure by withholding his bonuses. The bank has welcomed Elliott’s decision to abandon the lawsuit, and has advised that both parties will pay their own legal costs. Elliott is entitled to an additional $8m worth of future bonuses, which may also be in doubt.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ

Politicians paying off Canberra mortgages thanks to taxpayers

Original article by Jessica Wang, Eliza Barr
Herald Sun – Page: Online : 7-Jan-26

Independent senator David Pocock has called for a review of federal politicians’ travel allowances, amid revelations that some are using their expense claims to help finance a mortgage. Interstate-based MPs and senators receive a nightly travel allowance of $322 to cover accommodation, food and incidental expenses during weeks when parliament is sitting. However, the rules allow them to receive the allowance even if they are staying at a home that either themselves or their partner own in Canberra; they can therefore redirect this money to paying off the mortgage on this home. Pocock, who lives in Canberra, says the allowance is necessary but must be in line with community expectations.

CORPORATES

MinRes chairman in line for $11m windfall

Original article by Mark Wembridge
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 14 & 19 : 24-Sep-25

The annual salary of Mineral Resources’ non-executive chairman Malcolm Bundey comprises $750,000 in cash and shares. However, Bundey will also be entitled to 780,000 stock options, subject to approval by shareholders at the iron ore and lithium miner’s AGM in November. His stock options will vest between $30 and $40 a share, and they have an exercise price of $25.40. Bundey’s options will be worth about $11.39m if the company’s shares remain above $40 at certain points over the next three years. Mineral Resources’ shares are currently trading at around $40, having reached a low of $14 in April.

CORPORATES
MINERAL RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX MIN

PM’s $16m team: it’s time to earn it

Original article by Geoff Chambers
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 2-Jul-25

The Australian Public Service had 193,503 ongoing and non-ongoing employees at the end of 2024, but the federal government’s March 2025 budget papers had forecast that this will rise to about 213,000 in 2025-26. Meanwhile, analysis shows that the combined remuneration of the 17 highest-ranking federal public servants will be around $16.3m in 2025-26. They received a salary increase on 1 July, following a recent ruling of the Remuneration Tribunal. Steven Kennedy, who heads the Department of Prime Minister & Cabinet, is the nation’s highest-paid bureaucrat, with total remuneration of $1,035,690.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. REMUNERATION TRIBUNAL, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

Renumeration Tribunal sets 2.4 per cent pay rise for federal MPs

Original article by Jessica Wang
Herald Sun – Page: Online : 12-Jun-25

Federal politicians, department secretaries and senior public servants will receive a pay rise of 2.4 per cent from 1 July. This is in line with the inflation rate, but below the pay rises that were awarded by the Remuneration Tribunal in the previous two years. The salary package of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will rise from about $607,471 per year to $622,050; Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ remuneration will in turn rise by $10,514 a year, to $448,625. The annual pay of other cabinet ministers will rise to $412,735.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. REMUNERATION TRIBUNAL, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY

PM rolls out $7.4b for aged care pay

Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 4-Mar-25

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will announce on Tuesday that he has struck a deal with NSW to provide its public schools with a $4.8 billion funding boost over 10 years. It leaves Queensland as the only state not to sign up to new funding arrangements, while Aged Care Minister Anika Wells will announce on Tuesday a further 12 per cent pay rise for aged care nurses that is worth $2.6 billion over three years. The announcement of the funding deal for NSW schools and the pay rise for aged care nurses comes amid increasing speculation that Albanese will call a federal election for 12 April immediately after Western Australians go to the polls on Saturday.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HEALTH AND AGED CARE

Labor faces $7.4b wages black hole

Original article by Michael Read
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 8-Jan-25

The federal public service wages bill increased by 11.7 per cent in 2023-24, due to wage rises and the addition of about 15,000 new staffers. The Treasury’s forecasts suggest that the public service wages bill is set to increase by another 10.8 per cent in 2023-24; however, the federal government’s recent mid-year budget update assumes that annual growth in the public services wages bill will then remain flat at $30 billion for the following three financial years. This forecast is at odds with the government’s latest enterprise agreement for public servants, which featured a pay rise of 11.2 per cent over the three years to March 2026.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY