Stick at job, earn $54,000 Games CEO collects ‘contract retention’ payout

MARK Peters will receive a $54,000 payout on top of his salary for completing his Commonwealth Games contract this month.

The GOLDOC boss is one of five executives to receive retention payouts in the wash up of April’s Games.

A spokesman for the Department of Innovation, Tourism Industry Development and the Commonwealth Games denied the payment was a bonus.

“Mark Peters will finish on August 31, 2018. There is no bonus payment to the CEO of GOLDOC – it is a retention payment to retain the CEO until the end of his contract.”

Estimates hearings in State Parliament recently revealed two members of the executive team had already received retention payments.

In July, commercial general manager Cameron Murray and sports operations general manager Nancy Romano received $120,140 and respectively.

The retention payments were introduced by the LNP Government in 2013 to ensure the key executives did not leave before the project had finished. The payments are an extra 10 per cent of the employee’s total remuneration per year, but are only paid if all key performance indicators are met.

GOLDOC would not confirm if other payments were $44,065 due to executive staff. However, past annual reports reveal five of the top executives are expected to collect a sum.

Commonwealth Games Minister Kate Jones told Estimates: “I was advised that the purpose of a retention payment was to help ensure key staff remain until they complete their contract to mitigate risk of their departure before, or at Games time, which could have put the delivery of the event at risk. I was advised this was standard practice for similar scale events and projects.”

GOLDOC chairman Peter Beattie last week said: “The CEO is 100 per cent focused on the dissolution process which is time consuming.

“The date for the conclusion of the CEO’s contract was determined by the Government in consultation with the GOLDOC board based on the dissolution timetable.

“The process is progressing on schedule and was deter- mined by good planning.”

Some of these dissolution tasks included the co-ordination of GOLDOC’s financial outcomes position, providing legal advice, closing around 240 contracts, decommissioning technology infrastructure, dissolving transport infrastructure (including 1300 fleet cars) and dissolution of venues including the athetes village, competition and training venues.

GOLDOC had 58 budgeted full-time employees as of June 30. Several directors are also entitled to a retention payout as they finish their contracts.