A $100,000 pay rise for NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione has been criticised by the NSW Greens, who say the state's cop has been caught out in a classic case of "doing as I say, not what I do".
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Mr Scipione has negotiated a 20 per cent pay increase with the state government as part of his agreement to stay on as commissioner for up to two more years.
Last financial year Mr Scipione's remuneration package was $497,000. The pay rise, which is still to go through the statutory remuneration tribunal, will take his pay package to almost $600,000 a year.
That salary is less than the $634,880 paid to the Australian Federal Police commissioner and the $691,200 paid to the head of the newly created Border Force.
It is, however, more than the man who reappointed him – Premier Mike Baird.
Greens MP David Shoebridge said the $100,000 a year rise was also greater than the entire salary of even the highest paid police constable, which is $73,651.
Mr Shoebridge said Mr Scipione's pay increase came after the commissioner argued at the Industrial Relations Commission against a 5 per cent increase for officers during the previous wage dispute. The Police Association of NSW achieved a 3.5 per cent increase in 2012.
"This a classic case of 'do what I say, not what I do' from Commissioner Scipione," Mr Shoebridge said.
"While the commissioner is on the record as wanting all other uniformed police to be capped at a 2.5 per cent pay rise, he has cut a deal that sees his salary skyrocket by $100,000."
Mr Scipione indicated in December last year that he was unlikely to seek another term as commissioner when his contract expired in September 2015.
But in April, Mr Baird announced that Mr Scipione would stay on for up to two more years, saying the 57-year-old was still the best person for the job.
Mr Scipione's deputies, Nick Kaldas and Catherine Burn, had been jockeying for position to succeed him but the succession plan was complicated after evidence at an parliamentary inquiry into a police bugging scandal last year that aired decades-old grievances between Mr Kaldas and Ms Burn.
The scandal focused on an operation codenamed Mascot, which ran between 1999 and 2001, which used a corrupt former policeman, codenamed M5, to target allegedly corrupt police with a listening device.
Ms Burn was team leader of Mascot, which bugged Mr Kaldas more than a decade ago.
During the inquiry, Mr Kaldas accused Ms Burn of raising his name with an informant later used to bug him, while Ms Burn detailed serious corruption allegations against Mr Kaldas that had led him to be targeted.
Ms Burn told the inquiry she no longer suspects Mr Kaldas of knowing about or being involved in corruption.
WHAT THEY EARN?
- Prime Minister – $507,300
- Premier of NSW – $358,850
- Border Force Commissioner – $691,200
- Australian Federal Police Commissioner – $634,880
- NSW Police Commissioner – $600,000
