Big end of town untrammelled by Government

Today's revelations about million-dollar pay rises for chief executives show the Government's pathetic legislation is doing little to redress the imbalance between the big end of town and everyday Australians, Greens Leader Bob Brown said today.

"The Government should have heeded the suggestion from the Australian Greens that chief executives' salaries be limited to 30 times the average pay within their corporation," Senator Brown said in Hobart.

"Our amendment would have been a good incentive to the CEO to improve the salary conditions of the workers, and it might have helped to winnow out those whose modus operandi is self-interest and retain those who are fair-minded human beings," Senator Brown said.

"The CEOs of Australia's top 50 companies - only including those adhering to a level of transparency that requires disclosure of pay - will enjoy an average 11.8% increase in their take home pay, analysis in today's AFR shows."

"So while the bosses get another $1 million a year, not including long-term share bonuses, the worker on the minimum wage gets an extra $19.40 a week, or 3.4%."