Question Time

Government Advertising

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA (Hartley—Leader of the Opposition) (14:10): My question is to the Premier. What salary for the Premier's new executive director, Government Advertising and Insights Hub, does the Premier say would pass the pub test? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: On 22 November—

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order: the leader is asking for an opinion of the Premier rather than a question seeking an answer.

The SPEAKER: If the leader could perhaps rephrase the question.

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: Certainly, sir. My question is to the Premier. What salary for the Premier's new executive director, Government Advertising and Insights Hub, is appropriate? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: If I can't ask that, sir—I mean, really.

The SPEAKER: Maybe just have one more go, and when you seek leave, maybe include some of—

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: My question is to the Premier. What is the salary being offered for the Premier's new executive director, Government Advertising and Insights Hub, and what would pass the pub test? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: On 22 November, the Department of the Premier and Cabinet advertised a position for executive director, Government Advertising and Insights Hub, with a salary range of up to $429,104. The Premier conceded this morning on AM radio that the proposed salary for this new spin doctor doesn't pass the pub test.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:12): I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. As the Leader of the Opposition is well aware, the government frequently advertises for a range of positions in executive levels of government. They are advertised with salary bands—that's standard operating procedure. I think there is more than one position that has been recently advertised in that regard from within government, including from within DPC.

I think the other example was the DPC is currently in the process of employing or recruiting a new strategic director of arts (an arts director), an executive director, and I think that has the same SAES 2 band that has been referred to, a SAES 2 band that is essentially consistent with the same SAES 2 band range that was applied throughout the entirety of the former government.

The Leader of the Opposition quite reasonably asked a question about this yesterday and I explained, and I am happy to reiterate, that this is actually an exercise within government to consolidate the government advertising functions across various agencies within government. We have been a rather disciplined government when it comes to expenditure within the public sector, being able to deliver three budget surpluses thus far, and we would like to, as best as we possibly can, maintain that trajectory.

One of the ways we have been able to achieve that is by deploying substantial savings across a range of agencies and various efficiencies where we can, and we don't think government advertising should be any exception. In fact, to that end, over the last financial year there has been an 18 per cent reduction of $7.9 million that we have been able to achieve in respect of government advertising, as those opposite would be aware.

More than that, the inquiry from the opposition has invited some scrutiny over what past practice has been in this regard. I note that in 2021, under the leadership of the former Liberal government, an executive director of strategic communications was employed within the Department of the Premier and Cabinet and guess what the salary band was? It was the SAES 2 salary band that applied to the exact same role with the same salary band—in fact, adjustment for inflation that was higher than what was the case in the advertisement that the Leader of the Opposition referred to. What's most interesting about this is for the—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Members on my left will come to order! The leader, you have asked your question. Please stop with the repetitive interjections.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: The director of strategic communications who was employed and who presumably wasn't part of a consolidation efficiency-saving exercise, was at the same SAES 2 band level, but the difference between then and now, apart from that band being less if you adjust for inflation, is, of course, the fact that it wasn't a merit-based appointment. It wasn't an open selection process. The difference between the policy being applied by this government versus the former government has nothing to do with the salary band but has to do with the open merit-based appointment process that this government is going through. We have this side of the house executing a policy to realise savings across government advertising, across a whole range of agencies, asking someone to head that up and that person to be merit appointed through a competitive selection process, which is very different from that deployed by those opposite.