Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Fielding for his question, although I think, quite frankly, it is a bit over the top. It is not a question of trying to square everybody up. I think executive pay levels and excessive remuneration are genuine issues which I think the community is concerned about. I am concerned about that, the Prime Minister is concerned about that and I think generally people are concerned about that. They have been excessive and the Prime Minister has made it clear that he has serious concerns and has tried to initiate some action to address this. Part of that is to be clear with some of these company executives and their boards that the public thinks they have gone way too far and that remuneration ought to be much more closely related to their performance and much more in line with community standards. That is the point the Prime Minister has made and hopefully that will provide some incentive to boards of large companies and their executives as to the payments they are looking to pay themselves.

We ought to apply all the moral suasion and any other measures we can to try to rein in that excessive remuneration. The government, through APRA, is taking some measures in this regard by developing a framework of principles for executive remuneration structures to apply to APRA regulated institutions, like banks and insurance companies. I think that work will be helpful. Clearly we are not going to be able to regulate successfully in all cases. I think the moral suasion that comes from the Prime Minister’s comments and the views of all parliamentarians should be heeded by those executives about having much more reasonable remuneration than some that has been paid— (Time expired)