Life, but not as we know it
Each story provides still more evidence of the gap between the rich and the impoverished in this country.
Some images provoke an instant reaction. Photographers and marketers trade on the human capacity for empathy. Think of the waif that symbolised injustice and revolution in the Les Miserables poster. Think Whina Cooper and mokopuna, shot from behind, during the 1975 land march.
I tend to respond to a different type of image. When news broke recently that the chief executive of the New Zealand Superannuation Fund was to receive a
2.7% pay rise the photograph used to illustrate the story on Stuff was exactly the same as the previous year. In 2016 that lucky gentleman was the beneficiary of a salary increase that beggared belief:
35.6%. I well remembered Adrian Orr’s features.
To be fair, if you look up ‘‘fat cat capitalist’’ on Google you are not presented with Orr’s jolly mug. He hasn’t the flash, 19th century three-piece suit. No cigar hangs from the mouth. He isn’t even especially rotund, at least for a man in his mid-50s.
On the other hand, the smirk upon the face, when considered in conjunction with the obscene amount of funds given him from the public purse, can only equate to smugness. And who could blame him? If I earned $ 1.2 million as a civil servant I would probably look smug too.
Does Orr suffer from unmitigated greed? Does he rejoice in a sense of entitlement, dismissing all criticism as ill-informed envy? Does he catch his own eye in the mirror every morning when shaving and softly intone, ‘‘You are responsible for $35 billion, it grew by $5.2 billion last year, you deserve every red cent’’?
I do not know the answers to these questions. Though Adrian and I attended the same tertiary institution at roughly the same time, our paths never crossed. Maybe he once sat a table away at the old Hillcrest pub, quietly nursing a jug of Rheineck lager, telling any who would listen that one day he would have a soft government job that paid so much that even a Tory prime minister would think it excessive. Waikato University’s School of Management Studies has a lot to be proud of.
There have been other stories about large pay rises this year, both regional and national. Hamilton’s chief executive Richard Briggs had his salary topped up by a factor of $20,000 back in August. In Auckland, the number of council staff paid in excess of $200,000 has grown by 25%: 194 now feed at that particular trough. Then there is the case of Fonterra CEO Theo Spierings, whose earnings sprung up by a factor of 57% in 2017, coming in at cool $8.32 million.
Each story provides still more evidence of the gap between the rich and the impoverished in this country. How can those earning sums so astronomically in excess of the average possibly relate to or understand the folk upon whom their decisions impact? Why must executives automatically receive annual increases at all, let alone in percentage terms, which by definition exacerbates differentials? Even when token salary freezes are accepted – such as 2015, when a possibly guilty Theo Spierings somehow felt unable to accept a pay rise after having fired 700 Fonterra staff – payments during subsequent years more than offset the short-term ‘‘sacrifice’’.
Orr’s case is especially interesting because it marks the second consecutive year in which the size of his salary increase has been opposed by State Services Commissioner Peter Hughes. The board of the Guardians of the Superannuation Fund have resisted all bureaucratic and political interference, arguing that Orr is such a uniquely talented individual that he transcends the pay scale of the public sector. His worth is to be seen in relationship to the funds he manages, as it might be if he were employed by a private investment firm.
One could applaud the bloodymindedness of such a decision, the absolute indifference displayed by board members to a senior career civil servant, to the elected prime minister of the nation – who questioned their logic in 2016 – and to wider public opinion. No one could ever doubt their independence or commitment to the ideals of high capitalism.
Personally, I would be inclined to fire the lot of them for rank insubordination, not to mention insensitivity. Orr’s salary could then at least be brought into line with established practice. If he argues he’s worth more in the open market, let him prove as much by resigning and finding employment elsewhere.