John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

The Chief Executive of Telstra is appointed by the board of Telstra and the board of Telstra determines his remuneration. The point I made on 29 September and the point the Treasurer made, I would be very happy to make again—and this applies to any highly paid chief executive in this country. If any person is paid a bonus, particularly at a chief executive level, over and above that person’s normal remuneration then it is incumbent upon the board to be satisfied that the performance criteria which are meant to validate the bonus have in fact been achieved. That was the point that was made by the Treasurer and it is a point that I am very happy to repeat. I think the Australian people share the view that large Australian companies have got to pay competitive salary levels, but they also share the view that people who are highly paid in this country have got to earn every dollar they get paid.

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