17 federal public servants are earning over $1 million a year, up from 11 in the previous 2024-25 financial year, including one earning $2.2 million, as revealed in Senate Estimates last night. All these highly paid people work at the government’s Future Fund Management Agency.
The Greens say it’s outrageous that any public servant earns an annual income equivalent to a lottery ticket.
As stated by Greens finance and public service spokesperson Senator Barbara Pocock:
“$2.2 million is equivalent to a lottery win – it is an outrageous sum of money for a single public servant to earn. It’s more than double what the head of the Department of Health and Ageing is paid. Why does this government value finance jobs so much more than massive care responsibilities?
“We’re seeing the number of highly paid public servants at Future Fund who are earning more than a million bucks a year leaping from 11 to 17, with only one woman among them. How is this fair?
“What kind of public service work warrants a salary of $1 or 2 million dollars? Even the Prime Minister and deputy Prime Minister don’t earn this much. I think most taxpayers would question whether this represents good value for money.
“In a cost of living crisis, millions of Australians are hurting. Households across the country, who can barely afford groceries or rent, will share my outrage.
“The government says it wants to rebuild the public sector yet it is slashing jobs while paying a handful of public servants millions and outsourcing work to big consultancy firms. That’s not how you rebuild the public service. The government’s public service strategy is broken.
“It’s disgusting that our sovereign wealth fund has built profits in part from investments in companies, including Palantir and Elbit Systems, which are complicit in the genocide in Gaza, which has seen more than 20,000 children murdered.
“Many Australians would share my repugnance that their super is built on weapons and the murder of civilians. We know war is super profitable but its blood money rewards do not belong in our national fund.
“The Future Fund increased its investment in both Palantir and Elbit Systems during the first half of 2026. The fund must divest from these companies immediately. It needs much more rigorous oversight of its weapons investments and their human rights contexts. It is time for Labor to revisit the Future Fund’s investment mandate.”
