SYNERGY — CEO —
REMUNERATION PACKAGE
884. Mr
D.C. NALDER to the Minister for Public Sector Management:
I have a supplementary question. Can
the minister explain how the CEO —
Mr D.J. Kelly interjected.
The SPEAKER: Minister for
Water, I call you to order for the first time.
Mr D.C. NALDER: Can the
minister explain how the CEO of Synergy received a substantial pay rise when he
put in place a pay freeze for senior public servants?
Mr M. McGOWAN
replied:
The Minister for Energy advises me
that the CEO received a $1 000 pay increase. The member can wave around old
newspaper clippings —
Mr D.C. Nalder: It's
your quote.
Mr M. McGOWAN: I am just
saying that the member comes in here and asks me questions —
Mr D.C. Nalder interjected.
The SPEAKER: Member for
Bateman, I call you to order for the second time.
Mr M. McGOWAN: The member
comes in here and asks me questions about issues that are weeks if not months
old, and he does it regularly. Lucky I have a good memory!
The minister has advised me that
there was an issue around the timing of the CEO's annual leave. I think
it was explained at the time that that was
the issue. I am also advised that he had a $1 000 pay increase for that year.
That is the situation. The minister also reminds me that when the member
was in government, the chairperson of Synergy got $610 000. Remember that
little affair—it was the chair, not the CEO. An amount of $610 000 for
a chair is the sort of thing we would talk about for major multinationals, let
alone Synergy and let alone in Western Australia.
I think the answer to this is very
clear. It was an annual leave issue and he received a $1 000 pay increase. But
the fact that the member scrapes around the bottom of the pot, searching for
something to raise, shows the state that the Liberal Party is in today.
The SPEAKER: That is the end
of question time.