Top public servants' pay would be capped under $430,000
Senator Jacqui Lambie wants a legal limit on what department heads and other top office holders are paid. Any higher amount would need a minister to sign off in public.
Official name: Remuneration Tribunal Amendment (There For Public Service, Not Profit) Bill 2025
- Heads of government departments and other top office holders would be paid less than $430,000 a year.
- A minister could set a different limit. But it would have to be in a public rule that Parliament can reject.
- The pay body could no longer quietly approve special deals that go above the set pay.
- The cap would only apply to pay decisions made after the law starts.
Who it affects
- Heads of federal government departments: Their pay would have to be set below $430,000 a year, unless a minister sets another amount.
- Holders of public offices, such as the Chief of the Defence Force, the head of the armed forces: The pay body could not set their pay at $430,000 or more without a minister's say-so.
- Heads of government agencies and bodies: Their pay level would also have to sit under the cap. No side deals could push them over it.
- The government minister in charge: They would answer in public for any pay above the cap.
Department heads paid over $900,000
The Australian Government is split into departments, like Health or Defence. Each one is run by a top public servant. In this article we call them department heads.
Their pay is set by a body called the Remuneration Tribunal. It works on its own, apart from the government. It decides what top public office holders are paid. In this article we call it the pay body.
Senator Jacqui Lambie brought this bill to the Senate in February 2025. Her notes on the bill say most department heads are paid more than $900,000 a year. Some get pay deals worth over $1 million.
She says they all earn much more than the Prime Minister. She also says the pay body makes these choices with little public checking.
Pay cap for office holders
The first change covers people who hold a public office. The law already lists who counts. It includes the Chief of the Defence Force and the chiefs of the Army, Navy and Air Force.
Right now the pay body can set their pay at any level it decides. Under this bill, their yearly pay would have to be less than $430,000.
The notes say this would put their pay below what the federal Treasurer earns. The Treasurer is the minister in charge of the budget. The notes call this a fair measure for the job.
Pay cap for agency heads
The pay body sorts heads of government agencies into pay levels. Each level has a set amount or a range of pay.
The bill says the top of every level must be under $430,000 a year. The pay body must also think about each person's super when it sets the level. Super is money set aside for when you stop work.
Department heads have their own set of pay levels. The bill adds a rule that none of those levels can go above $430,000 a year either.
Say a department head is paid $900,000 today. Once a new pay decision is made under this law, it would have to drop to the cap.
When ministers can change it
The bill lets the minister in charge of the pay body's law set a different amount for a year. The minister would do this in a written rule that must be put before Parliament.
Either house of Parliament can vote to cancel that rule.
There is a time limit too. The new amount only counts for a year if the minister makes it on or before 1 July of the year before.
The senator says this makes the government of the day answer in public for any pay above $430,000.
No side deals
Right now a government body can give its boss different pay and conditions from what the pay body decided. It can do this if the pay body agrees in writing.
The bill removes that option. The notes say this is to stop back-door deals that get around the cap.
Waiting in the Senate
If passed, the law would start the day after it is signed. The Governor-General signs bills into law. The Governor-General is the King's representative in Australia.
It would only apply to pay decisions made after that. So nobody's past pay is touched.
Senator Lambie brought the bill into the Senate on 5 February 2025. She started the debate on its main idea that day. It died when Parliament ended on 21 July 2025.
It was put back on the Senate's list of business on 23 July 2025. The Senate still has to debate it and vote on it. The House of Representatives, the other house of Parliament, would then have to pass it too.
It came in alongside a second bill from Senator Lambie about uni and training courses. That one is called the There For Education, Not Profit Bill.
Its journey through Parliament
| 05 Feb 2025 | Senate: Introduced and read a first time |
| 05 Feb 2025 | Senate: Second reading moved |
| 21 Jul 2025 | Senate: Lapsed at end of Parliament |
| 23 Jul 2025 | Senate: Restored to Notice Paper |