The federal opposition has questioned how much Malcolm Turnbull's new chief of staff Greg Moriarty is paid, after his former senior adviser received almost $200,000 more in salary than the Prime Minister.
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In Senate budget estimates hearings on Thursday night, Labor senator Don Farrell raised the salary paid to Mr Turnbull's former chief of staff, Drew Clarke, before his retirement last month and asked Special Minister of State Scott Ryan if Mr Moriarty was receiving the same salary.
Before joining Mr Turnbull's office in September 2015, Mr Clarke had served for three years as secretary of the Department of Communications where his pay was set by the Commonwealth Remuneration Tribunal.
When Mr Turnbull rolled Tony Abbott to take the top job, Mr Clarke moved to the Prime Minister's Office at Parliament House and continued to receive his $691,200 annual salary.
Mr Turnbull is paid $507,338.
Mr Moriarty is a veteran Department of Defence intelligence ??analyst and former ambassador to Iran and Indonesia. He was picked by Mr Abbott as the government's counter-terrorism co-ordinator in May 2015 and succeeded Mr Clarke in April this year.
Senator Farrell said Mr Clarke's salary had been a matter of public record, and asked how much less Mr Moriarty took home.
Senator Ryan said he didn't know if Mr Moriarty was being paid within the ordinary pay scale for advisers in the Prime Minister's Office or if a special arrangement was in place.
He took a series of questions on notice and said he would provide the committee as much information as was allowed under privacy laws.
"Long established practice is not to comment on remuneration or other employment arrangements that might breach the privacy of an individual," Senator Ryan said.
"I'll happily take the questions on notice which will allow me to determine the answer but also to consider privacy aspects. Officials do not bring information about individuals to estimates hearings ... and evidence can be provided at aggregate levels, statistics or other means to de-identify [individuals]."
Mr Abbott's controversial former chief of staff, Peta Credlin, said last year people on both sides of politics were angry an advisor to the Prime Minister was being paid more than their boss.
"Both sides are upset that the staff in the Prime Minister's office ??? are better paid and higher paid ??? than anywhere else," she said.
"They are exempt from the normalised [enterprise bargaining agreement] rules because a prime minister can pay people above and beyond the band. Everyone else is stuck with the band."
Labor asked how much Social Services Minister Christian Porter's chief of staff, Cheryl Gwilliam, was paid. A former director-general of the West Australian Department of the Attorney-General, Labor said Ms Gwilliam is also reportedly paid outside the usual range for ministerial advisors.
The salaries of senior public servants and federal government officials have been under scrutiny since it was revealed Australia Post boss Ahmed Fahour was paid $5.6 million in pay and bonuses before resigning.
NBN Co chief executive Bill Morrow is Australia's best paid public official, receiving pay and bonuses worth $3.6 million in 2015-16.
Reserve Bank Governor Philip Lowe receives a base salary of $1.03 million, ahead of Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet Secretary Martin Parkinson who receives $861,000 in salary.
