The Remuneration Tribunal's recent decision to increase the pay of departmental secretaries (and others) by 2.4 per cent shows again that this tribunal is as far away from reality and rationality as it's possible to get.

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The increase pegs the annual pay for the secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet at $1,035,684 with fractional and unjustified distinctions across a number of levels down to the Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, who must be satisfied with a mere $828,549.

These rates are almost double what the Prime Minister gets. The tribunal's statement says it "took account of economic conditions in Australia, past and projected movement in remuneration in the private and public sectors and the outcome of wage reviews undertaken by the Fair Work Commission."

None of these considerations has anything remotely to do with fixing secretaries' pay.

The tribunal then gets particular, listing "indicators and sources of information" it considered. Some of these are bizarre. What on earth have changes to interest rates, unemployment and workforce participation rates, or the Fair Work Commission's minimum wage increases got to do with secretary pay?

The tribunal doesn't say, presumably because any imagined connections are beyond explanation.

Similarly, movements in the CPI and various wage price indexes are also irrelevant.

Its claim that it considered "published material available from the government, the RBA and the Australian Bureau of Statistics, including the government budget outlook and the RBA statement on monetary policy" is mere humbug.

The tribunal got itself into its present pickle 10-15 years ago when, in a series of decisions, it made........

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