The total remuneration package of Australia Post’s top executive, Ahmed Fahour, saw him pocket a $4.4m salary and a $1.2m bonus last financial year, taking his total package to $5.6m.
Fahour is the country’s highest paid civil servant, and is engaged in a strategy that many printers feel is designed to run down mail while focusing on parcels. Printers have expressed strong frustration at the recently introduced longer delivery times and higher postage costs from Australia Post.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull laid into the pay packet, saying that Australia’s top-earning public servant is overpaid, saying, “I think that remuneration is too high”.
He is also potentially the highest-paid postal executive on the planet. His Canadian and American equivalents earn a $500,000 salary in AUD, while in the UK there has been recent controversy over the chief executive receiving a salary of $2.5m, less than half of Fahour's. All three countries have a larger population than Australia, with harder conditions to travel in. The US and Canada also have a larger landmass than Australia.
In total the executive branch of ten people was paid more than $18m, which represents more than half of Australia Post’s total yearly profits.
Australia Post requested that the figures be kept private, but the senate committee that revealed the pay of the AusPost top execs dismissed it, arguing that transparency for executive pay in a Government-owned entity is in the public interest.
Five unnamed executives received between $1.3m and $1.8m a year while one claimed a $380,000 retirement benefit.
Ahmed Fahour was also recently honoured with an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for distinguished service to business across the postal, banking and investment sectors.
Australian Printer contacted Australia Post to ask whether the large salaries would have been better used to improve services and update their infrastructure, but was redirected to the media statement.
In its statement, Australia Post says that: “The remuneration of the executive team, including the managing director and Group CEO, is set by the Australia Post Board.
“Mr Fahour's total remuneration package takes into account the size and complexity of the organisation, which has an annual turnover of more than $6bn. It also reflects the large-scale transformation underway and that more than 73 per cent of its revenue comes from the non-regulated side of the business where it is competing with major global players such as DHL, FedEx and Toll.
“Mr Fahour's remuneration in FY16 included a performance-based short-term bonus in line with Australia Post returning to profit. The previous year he did not receive a bonus.
"Total executive remuneration has not increased since 2014 when the executive last received their full eligible performance bonus.
“Since 2007 Australia Post has paid more than $6.3bn in dividends and taxes to the Federal Government. Australia Post does not receive any taxpayer funding.”
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