Fong gives himself a pay rise

Health Department director-general Neale Fong has exercised his right to take a seven per cent pay rise under the terms of his $550,000-a-year contract and has attracted both scorn and mirth from worker’s unions. Dr Fong’s contract stipulates he can choose his own pay increase provided it fell within the Salaries and Allowances Tribunal recommendations for top public servants. The pay rise follows the tribunal’s decision to boost the pay of 89 senior public servants by between seven and 24 per cent. Dr Fong now takes home the biggest pay packet of all of Australia’s bureaucrats, with a salary of $565,272 – almost twice the annual pay of Prime Minister John Howard, at $283,990.