Some public sector bosses still get big pay increases

Public sector bosses continued to get pay rises and bonuses even as people around the country struggled to make ends meet and teachers and health workers resorted to industrial action to increase their pay.
The State Services annual report, released yesterday, showed that while the overall bill for state sector bosses remuneration fell by $434,000, several chief executives were paid more.
Ministry of Education chief executive Karen Sewell and IRD boss Robert Russell got increases of up to $20,000. Ms Sewell's pay went from $480,000-$489,999 to $500,000-$509,999 and Mr Russell's from $440,000-$449,999 to $460,000-$469,999.
Other increases went to Ministry of Agriculture's Murray Sherwin, Ministry of Justice's Belinda Clark, Department of Conservation's Al Morrison and Department of Corrections' Barry Matthews.
Ministry of Transport CEO Martin Matthews also received a rise (up from $350,000-$359,999 to $360,000-$369,999) even though he had not had a performance review.
State Services Commissioner Iain Rennie said those who received pay increases or bonuses deserved them because of exceptional performance.
Public sector CEOs were eligible for bonuses of up to 15 per cent of their base salary. Any bonuses paid were included in the remuneration figures in the annual report.
"Every year we set performance expectations ... if they more than met expectations at the end of the financial year they may receive a remuneration increase."
Of the 24 performance reviews conducted in the last year, six CEOs had their remuneration increased, five decreased and 13 remained unchanged.
That did not mean those who did not receive an increase were not performing well, Mr Rennie said.
"Meeting expectations is a high standard. Some chief executives' remuneration has declined not necessarily because they're doing a bad job.
"It could be because the level of performance we say in the year prior was truly excellent and we saw just very good performance in the most recent year," he said.
Those whose pay was cut by up to $10,000 were Ministry of Pacific Islands Affairs chief executive Colin Tukuitonga, National Library boss Penny Carnaby, Ministry of Maori Development's Leith Comer, and Ministry of Economic Development head David Smol. Department of Internal Affairs boss Brendan Boyle had his pay cut by up to $20,000.
Mr Rennie said he would not discuss individuals who had not performed as well as hoped.
"I'm sure you wouldn't want your employer to publicly talk about your performance."
Ministry of Social Development chief executive Peter Hughes and Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade boss John Allen were tied for highest paid bureaucrat on $570,000-$579,999. Treasury secretary John Whitehead was runner-up on $560,000-$569,999.
The $434,000 drop in the total wage bill was partly due to the mergers of the New Zealand Food Safety Authority with the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and the National Library and Archives New Zealand with the Department of Internal Affairs which meant three chief executive roles were cut.
State Services Minister Tony Ryall said while there were individual increases the overall wage bill was down.