An Australian worker on the median wage of $55,000 would have to work for 669 years to earn as much as Australia's highest-paid chief executive gets in one year.
The chief executive of Domino's Pizza Group, Don Meij, is at the top of the list of highest-paid chief executives in a new report compiled by the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors.
He earned $36.8 million last year, or $142,000 a day.
That figure has even caught Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull by surprise. He has told Radio 3AW in Melbourne he cannot make sense of it.
The Australian Council of Superannuation Investors is set up by industry superannuation funds to monitor the governance and ethical standards of the businesses in which super funds invest. It has been tracking chief executives' wages for the past 17 years.
The group's own chief executive, Louise Davidson, says this year's increase of 12.4 per cent in the average pay of chief executives is the biggest growth in 17 years and the highest since the 2007 global financial crisis.
Bonus payments increased by more than 18 per cent, with almost one in three chief executives from the top 100 listed companies on the Australian Stock Exchange receiving at least 80 per cent of their maximum bonuses. Ms Davidson says bonuses are being awarded too readily.
In Australia, shareholders have been given the power to protest against chief executives' pay. Under an amendment to the Corporations Act, a protest vote of 25 per cent or more at two consecutive annual general meetings against the adoption of a remuneration report can trigger a boardroom spill. Ms Davidson says, while that is welcome, Australia might do better by using Britain's model.
Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary Sally McManus says she would like to see more steps to curb chief executives' pay. Malcolm Turnbull says he believes it is shareholders who can, and should, act. The survey organisers say they found it difficult to analyse gender-pay equality with only nine female chief executives in the 200 biggest companies.
The Australian Council of Superannuation Investors says, among the 100 biggest companies, there were more chief executives called Andrew than women.
