Ambassador Rudd’s taxpayer double dip
KEVIN Rudd will be double-dipping on the taxpayers’ dime in his new role as Australia’s US ambassador, putting his income almost on par with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
The former prime minister and his ex-Labor colleague Stephen Smith – appointed as Australia’s new High Commissioner to the UK – are the latest retired MPs to cash in lucrative six-figure salaries as diplomats on top of their postparliamentary pensions.
While the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade would not confirm their individual wages in the prestigious overseas posts, it is understood the pair will be paid at the top end of a public service executive salary band ranging from $292,000 to $441,000.
They will also be entitled to continue receiving about half of their pensions, under a generous scheme available to MPs elected before 2004, meaning both are likely to take home at least $500,000 when they start work in Washington DC and London early next year.
Mr Albanese earns $564,000 in the nation’s top job.
Dr Rudd’s full pension is worth an estimated $216,000 a year, according to a News Corp analysis of the complicated scheme which is based on an MP’s years of service and parliamentary and ministerial positions.
But the new job will be a significant pay cut from his position as the Asia Society’s global president, where he has earned about $US1m ($1.49m) a year.
“He certainly doesn’t need to do this,” Mr Albanese said on announcing his appointment.
“He’s doing it out of … what he sees as his service obligation to the country that he loves.”
Professor Smith, the former defence minister, has a full pension worth an estimated $242,000. He is now leading the federal government’s independent defence strategic review on a eight-month contract worth $306,496.
Under laws governing the scheme, former MPs who take on taxpayer-funded roles must have their payments halved for every dollar they earn that exceeds 20 per cent of their pension rate.
Dr Rudd’s spokesman said: “We expect the government will apply the same rules that applied to previous diplomatic appointees including Brendan Nelson, Tim Fischer and Alexander Downer.”