Govt considers executive pay caps

Treasurer Wayne Swan says a move to put a ceiling on "sickening" executive salaries and payouts is among a range of options being considered.

He's also challenged ordinary Australians who have shares in larger companies to hold executives to account, and oppose outlandish payments to those at the top.

Telstra, Pacific Brands spark debate

The move follows confirmation from Telstra that its outgoing chief Sol Trujillo will receive a termination payout of $3 million.

"The termination payment is the equivalent of one year's base salary," a Telstra spokesman said. "There are no extras."

And there's been widespread public anger over revelations that pay hikes of up to 170 per cent were approved last year for senior executives of Pacific Brands.

Unions say it's clear that while senior executives were taking home fatter pay packets, they were plotting to axe almost 2,000 Australian jobs.

The maker of iconic brands such as Bonds and King Gee on Wednesday announced 1,850 jobs will go, as it moves its manufacturing operations offshore.

The treasurer said workers were right to be "absolutely furious" over the pay rises, and put big employers on notice that the government expects everyone to pull together amid the global economic recession.

"To see that a privileged few are doing so well at a time when thousands of workers are being retrenched is frankly sickening," Mr Swan said.

‘All options’ being considered

Asked whether salaries should be capped, he said the government was "looking at all options," adding it was also up to company shareholders to hold their executives to account.

Amid the doom and gloom on the jobs front, Mr Swan leapt on an announcement by Woolworths chief Michael Luscombe that the retailer will create 7,000 new jobs in the second half of the financial year with new store openings and improved sales growth.

"It shows that despite the global recession, there are still companies prepared to invest and to employ Australians," the treasurer said.

Opposition says change long overdue

Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull said he had been advocating changes to the way executive pay is set for more than 15 years.

He called on Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to make shareholder votes on pay binding on a company board.

"Now at the moment the senior executive remuneration package ... goes to the shareholders and they can express an opinion but it isn't binding," Mr Turnbull said from Cessnock, in the NSW Hunter Valley, where 83 Pacific Brands factory workers will lose their jobs.

But Greens leader Bob Brown said both the government and the opposition had voted against Greens' amendments in the Senate in February and last December requiring shareholder approval of "golden parachutes" of more than $1 million.

"They click their tongues but they refuse to act, they've made no initiatives but they cross the floor and vote down the Greens' initiatives in the Senate," Senator Brown said.

Earlier this month, US President Barack Obama announced a $US500,000 ($A769,700) cap on payouts to executives at companies that had received government assistance, as Pacific Brands has in Australia.

Last October, Mr Rudd asked the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) to work on options to deal with excessive executive pay.

Global issue

It's expected Mr Rudd will take the issue up at the G20 summit of the world's leading economies in London in April, which will look at reforms to global banking and financial systems.

Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner said high executive salaries and payouts, while not as excessive as those in the US, were a symptom of a bigger problem in the wake of the long mining boom.

"We clearly have to do something about this, the government's very closely considering its options," Mr Tanner said.

"I can understand why a lot of people in the community are angry about this sort of thing."