The company says that the competitive salaries are designed to ‘attract and retain critical talent’
More than three quarters of employees at the National Broadband Network take home upwards of $100,000 a year, the taxpayer-funded infrastructure group has confirmed.
The revelation last week prompted critics to call NBN Co. a “millionaires’ factory”.
NBN, which has received $51bn in taxpayer money, revealed to a senate committee that more than 4,800 of its 6,300 staff members earn six-figure salaries and at least 850 make more than $200,000:
Apart from paying out large salaries, NBN said it had also spent $265,000 on expenses such as entertainment and functions between February and June – at a time when most Australians remained in lockdown, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
The company defended its pay structure, saying the competitive salaries are designed to “attract and retain critical talent”.
Read more: Should bosses have to pay back their bonuses?
But Senator Kimberley Kitching, who oversees government accountability, labelled NBN a “millionaires’ factory”.
“NBN Co employs public servants who take no private-sector risk, but are given multimillion-dollar rewards,” Kitching said.
On Twitter, the senator posted: “While most Australians are doing it tough, the mismanaging Liberals’ NBN millionaires’ factory is living the taxpayer-funded dream with a government employee CEO paid $2.6m per annum and a small army of 850 other happy Vegemites paid more than $200,000 per annum.”
While most Australians are doing it tough, the mismanaging Liberals’ NBN millionaires’ factory is living the taxpayer funded dream with a govt employee CEO paid $2.6M per annum and a small army of 850 other happy Vegemites paid more than $200k pa #auspol https://t.co/MDxRoIuH6D
— Kimberley Kitching🇦🇺🦘 (@kimbakit) October 8, 2020
The figures came to light just months after NBN announced plans to retrench some 800 workers by the end of 2020.
Read more: Company rescinds CEO offer over costly executive pay
A union leader also criticised NBN’s executive pay system, calling it “disgraceful” that base level jobs would be terminated “whilst senior staff continue to pocket massive salaries”.
“The federal government’s NBN Co is axing over 800 jobs at a time when Australians are relying on the service more than ever, not to mention that we’re in the middle of a national unemployment crisis,” Shane Murphy, national president of the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union, said in a report on ITWire.
“The federal government’s latest budget is supposedly all about jobs – so why are they not intervening to protect these vital jobs from the chopping block?” Murphy said.
