Pay boost despite the Telecom leak

Herald graphic

The head of the Prime Minister's department appears to have escaped for now any financial punishment despite the Telecom Budget leak that happened under his stewardship.

Instead Maarten Wevers received a $60,000 pay rise to $400,000 in the year the leak occurred, or 17 per cent, according to the State Services Commission annual report tabled yesterday.

State Services Commissioner Mark Prebble said when it was revealed messenger Mike Ryan in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet had leaked part of the Budget to a friend in Telecom that the matter would be taken into account in Dr Wevers' performance review.

A spokeswoman for Dr Prebble said last night that he would not discuss specific salaries but said "the salary packages are retrospective and do not take into account recent events".

It is understood that the bonus component of a salary package is negotiated at the end of a financial year and is therefore reflected in the following year's figures.

The heads of Treasury, IRD and Foreign Affairs are the highest paid of the executives appointed by the State Services Commission.

The Police Commissioner has been paid more but it is difficult to tell from yesterday's report whether that remains the case because the $680,000 attached to the Police Commissioner salary for the past year included entitlements paid to retiring Commissioner Rob Robinson.

The Wananga o Aotearoa had the highest salary for a chief executive in the tertiary sector at $430,000 but again, that included contractual entitlements paid to the former chief executive, Rongo Wetere, on his last day in the job.

Prime Minister Helen Clark gets $347,000 a year and Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Michael Cullen $245,000.