This is obscene

‘Auckland DHB boss’ $60k+ pay rise
Auckland District Health Board chief executive Ailsa Claire’s total pay package increased in a year by more than $60,000, or 10.3 per cent, according to data published today by the State Services Commission.
But the DHB says the real increase is much smaller – “just below 1.5 per cent” – because of changes in the proportion of at-risk/performance pay in her total remuneration in 2014/15 and because she received this part of her pay in the financial year after it was earned…’
I have no problem at all with people in the public sector earning high salaries, provided those salaries are payment for extraordinary talents and hard work. Where is the evidence that these obscene salaries are paid for those things?
A recent article in North and South magazine touched on this, discussing how NZ has become the “Absurdistan” of the South Pacific:
“..And then there are the tired mantras used to justify the eye-watering salaries we pay senior public servants and CEOs.
…how many people really believe that Stuart McCutcheon, for instance, is worth $660,000 a year to run Auckland University? Or that Treasury CEO Gabriel Makhlouf, who advises the government on an economy with a GDP of $US185 billion, is worth an annual salary of $650,000 – when Janet Yellen, the chair of the Federal Reserve, who oversees an economy of US16.8 trillion and is the central banker to the world, gets $US201,700? And how can the CEO of Auckland’s DHB, who is paid $570,000, be worth more than a skilled surgeon?…..”
Graham Adams, North and South June 2015
Revealed: The highest paid public servants

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15 Responses to This is obscene

  1. mawm says:

    Claire’s salary increase is disgusting especially at a time when that DHB is playing hardball with their technicians, physiotherapists, lab workers, etc. over the removal of penal hours pay for weekend and night work. These staff members are dedicated workers who will see a large reduction in their earnings as a result. They don’t earn much to start with and often need any extra they can get by volunteering to work weekend shifts just to get by. http://falfn.com/CrusaderRabbit/wp-content/plugins/wp-monalisa/icons/wpml_rose.gif

  2. The Gantt Guy says:

    Straight from the single-payer NHS in the UK to single-payer NHS in New Zealand. And an OBE for her trouble.

    Could she get a job in the corporate world, one wonders?

    • mawm says:

      Not on her known ability. She’s a social worker FFS.

      • KG says:

        Seems to me that it’s merely an exclusive club, where the right connections and the ability to dissemble and recycle jargon, network and push the right PC buttons gives access to the taxpayer-funded gravy train.
        Technical ability has fuck-all to do with it. And real accountability is non-existent. These people are overpaid, amoral, arrogant parasites. :evil:

      • The Gantt Guy says:

        I’ve recently taken a role in the government/health/shared services arena (needs must, and the mortgage needs paying!). OMFG, it’s like stepping back in time 25 years. Many – or most – of the people “working” there (especially the “senior” “managers”) could never in their worst nightmares get a job in the real world!

        • KG says:

          The sheer number of them is frightening. Add the cost of them to all the compliance drones, and NZ taxpayers are staggering under a huge burden.
          Honest thieves use a shotgun and take their chances.

          • The Gantt Guy says:

            Exactly. Although to be honest, the corporate world – at least in NZ and (in my experience) Aus – are no better. No, or very little, competition. In the government sector, no profit motive. In the corporate world, markets so small that massive profits are pre-baked. In either case, very little incentive to be lean, or efficient, or good. Look at the banks. Look at Fonterra. Giant fountains of waste and inefficiency.

            In both cases, sucking the life out of the “real” economy – small and medium-sized businesses.

        • mawm says:

          Most of us do so little work anyway. It’s more important to go through the PC crap than get the actual caring of patients done. And you’re paying for it.

  3. Michael in Nelson says:

    So, more of her raise is in the ‘earn the bonus’ realm. Tell me, when was the last time you heard of one of these asshats NOT getting their performance bonus?

  4. KG says:

    “In both cases, sucking the life out of the “real” economy – small and medium-sized businesses.”
    Exactly.

  5. KG says:

    Tertiary heads farewelled with ‘golden handshakes’
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11552330