Labour defends ‘smaller’ public salary bill

The Labour government has defended its spend on political and ‘trust’ appointments in the public sector, saying that at least 30% of appointees featured on MaltaToday’s public sector ‘rich list’ were costing the country much less than what was spent on the same roles back in 2013.

According to salaries for 2013 provided by the Office of the Prime Minister, the salaries listed by MaltaToday under Labour are €300,000 ‘cheaper’ than under the PN administration.

MaltaToday listed 76 positions totalling just over €3.3 million, while under the PN this cost €3.6 million.

Notably, they included the €500,000 salary of former Air Malta chief executive Peter Davies, mandated with the ambitious restructuring of the national airline under EU state aid rules. That position is today occupied by Philip Micallef, who earns the country’s highest salary at €125,000.

Labour also curtailed expensive salaries paid to MEPA chairman Austin Walker (€94,000) and CEO Ian Stafrace (€70,000), going down to €18,000 for chairman Vince Cassar and €66,000 for Johann Buttigieg.

Walker, who famously likened himself to an ‘expensive car’, had retained his executive salary even after MEPA’s day-to-day running was passed on to Stafrace.

“This administration has saved further salaries by eliminating a number of CEO positions which existed under the PN government and requesting one appointee to carry out the role of executive chairman,” the OPM spokesperson, Matthew Carbone, told MaltaToday, pointing to ‘savings’ for the gaming authority’s top post with €114,000 instead of a combined €123,833, or more notably the MITA position tagged at a €70,212 salary instead of €110,128.

The OPM said that another 40% of the appointees earned the same package as in 2013, apart from various executives who retained their posts, such as Anton Attard at PBS, Central Bank governor Josef Bonnici, and Children’s Commissioner Helena d’Amato.
“This means that 70% of the political appointees and public sector CEOs quoted by MaltaToday are today earning less, or equal, salaries than what they would have earned for the same positions just over two years ago,” Carbone said.

“The few positions earning more reflect the different work being carried out. For instance, Film Commissioner Engelbert Grech earns €38,000 anually compared to €36,000 under the previous administration, when the result is an increase from €5 million in FDI from the film industry in 2013, to €100 million this year. Others, like the chairs of the CHOGM task force and the  Housing Authority, are on a full-time basis, unlike their predecessors.”

The rich-list also included the Prime Minister’s current €68,000 salary, which excludes the controversial €25,000 salary hike on ministerial pay and MPs’ honoraria that was eventually repealed. In 2010, Lawrence Gonzi’s salary totalled €85,504.

“The former Cabinet members benefitted from a total of €1.6 million in salary increases, out of which only €300,000 were refunded despite the PN giving the impression that all extra earnings had been returned,” Carbone said.

CLARIFICATION
Luciano Busuttil’s salary was reported to be over €24,000 in the list, when it actually is at €14,000.