Sir Brian Roche gives a reality check on public paycheques

Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche has questioned automatic pay rises for bureaucrats, stripping powers off Chief Executives to further entrench the ‘tenure-based pay scale’ as pay rises become unaffordable.

Commenting on this, Taxpayers Union Spokesman James Ross said: “Roche has cast an unbiased eye on a serious and growing problem – the bloating of bureaucrats’ salary bills.”

“The public service salary burden jumped 72% between 2017 and 2023, and the average bureaucrat’s salary is now over $101k. Automatic pay rises, no matter what, are unsustainable under current economic conditions. ”

“Everyday Kiwis get pay rises when they earn them, and bear the consequences of their own performance. Public servants shouldn’t be entitled to special privileges, especially when everyone else is picking up the bill.”

“Rewarding time-served with automatic pay hikes subsidises mediocrity, and public sector performance pay is long overdue.”