kevin rudd's secret salary deals for his staff

Kevin Rudd's secret salary top ups for his staff
January 20, 2009 11:00pm
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,24942045-952,00.html


TWO days after the Prime Minister asked workers to hold off wage demands, it has emerged two of his highest-paid advisers have been awarded secret bonus payments.

Kevin Rudd personally intervened to pay a salary bonus to 29-year-old chief of staff Alister Jordan, his long-serving confidant.

Another senior adviser has also breached the Government's official salary cap, with his "principal adviser" salary boosted beyond the top level of $192,000.

Mr Jordan, who has worked side-by-side with Mr Rudd for six years, is one of four Government advisers paid at the top "principal adviser" level.

With superannuation and overtime added to salaries, principal advisers earn close to $250,000 a year.

The revelations of the top-up payments are embarrassing for Mr Rudd who on Monday night called on workers to show wage restraint as Australia rockets towards recession.

The Coalition also accused Mr Rudd of being a climate change "hypocrite" after it was revealed that several of these senior advisers drive fuel-guzzling motor vehicles.

"This is another case of Kevin Rudd preaching one thing but practising the exact opposite," Shadow Special Minister of State Michael Ronaldson told The Courier-Mail.

Senator Ronaldson accused Mr Rudd of double standards, just a day after the Prime Minister called on workers to defer wage claims to save their jobs.

"Yesterday Kevin Rudd was talking about a wage freeze for workers but today he refuses to reveal how much he is paying his backroom operators," the Liberal Senator said.

"Kevin Rudd's secretive pay deal for his senior staff is a poke in the eye to working families at a time when Australians are worried about their own financial security."

Mr Jordan was in Adelaide with Mr Rudd last night and was not available for comment. The renowned workaholic - described by one Labor figure as an "older man in a younger body" - was hired by Mr Rudd when he was opposition foreign affairs spokesman.

Last night, Special Minister of State John Faulkner defended the special "top-up" payments.

"Approval of personal staff salaries above the band is a mechanism available to governments and oppositions - and should be used in exceptional circumstances," Senator Faulkner said.

The Labor hard-man played a very different role in Opposition, pursuing the then Coalition government over top-up payments to its senior staff.

Labor, when it was in Opposition, attacked John Howard for awarding special pay rises to several of his most senior advisers.