He’s already a multi-millionaire but it turns out Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull is also on a pretty good salary.
New figures show Turnbull is actually the highest-paid politician in the OECD, beating New Zealand’s prime minister Jacinda Ardern and even US president Donald Trump. The stats, released by market research firm IG, show Turnbull earns around 10 times the average wage. He currently sits on a cool $527,854 base pay rate a year.
Last year’s independent Remuneration Tribunal helped Turnbull gain the top spot, with Aussie politicians earning a two per cent pay rise last year. For some federal politicians, judges and public servants, this rise saw their pay increase by $12,000 a year. Turnbull himself saw a $10,350 increase.
At the time, Turnbull downplayed his pay increase on 2GB radio with Chris Smith.
“It’s a decision by the Remuneration Tribunal and there is never a good time to increase the pay of politicians, but the alternative to having an independent tribunal set the politicians pay is to have the politicians setting it themselves and no-one would want that,” he said.
Opposition leader Bill Shorten also saw his base salary jump from $368,224 to $375,558.
Meanwhile, president of Switzerland Alain Berset currently earns $482,958 a year, while president Trump sits in third place at $400,000. German chancellor Angela Merkel sits on fourth on $369,727, while Kiwi PM Ardern earns $339,862.
In terms of pay rate, Turnbull was beaten only by Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto. His pay sits at 10.8 times the average pay packet for Mexican citizens, while Turnbull’s is 10.14 than average. Over in New Zealand, Ardern’s pay is 8.63 times higher, while Trump is 6.65 times higher than the normal rate.
Of course, this is nothing compared to some of the Head of States around the world. Queen Elizabeth II pockets $107,392,287 as her base pay, well ahead of Philippe of Belgium who placed second with $14,454,440.
Meanwhile, Forbes recently released its 32nd annual list of biggest billionaires in the world, with 2,208 making the list. Mining magnate Gina Rinehart was named Australia’s richest and the 69th richest person in the world, earning around US$27.4B thanks to her role as executive chairman of Hancock Prospecting.
The mining mogul took control of her late father Lang Hancock’s estate after his death and turned it into one of the most successful companies in the world. Other Aussies to make the list included Rupert Murdoch with US$15B to his name and Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest with a net worth of US$4.4B.