Australia Post's next top executive is unlikely to take home the same pay packet as his predecessor, Ahmed Fahour, who announced his resignation on Thursday following a furore over his $5.6 million salary.
The Turnbull government has announced a tribunal will now determine the pay and conditions of future Australia Post managing directors.
The Remuneration Tribunal was announced the day of Mr Fahour's shock resignation, and will require the Australia Post Board to justify the future CEO's salary is proportionate to the responsibility of the role.
His take-home pay has been the subject of recent critics, however Mr Fahour says it had not forced his decision to sign off on his seven-year term.
"It's time. My job is done," he said. "I've achieved everything I needed to achieve.
"I've had a pretty fair innings. It is time to give someone else a go."
Australia Post's resistance to release executive pay details because it feared it would attract unwarranted media attention and may lead to "brand damage" was a red rag to parliamentary bulls.
They argued the chief executive of Canada Post takes homes less than $500,000 a year and the prime minister earns just over $500,000, so why should Fahour get 10 times the pay packet?
The prime minister entered the fray earlier this month, personally raising the issue with Australia Post chairman John Stanhope.
"I think Ahmed should step back and say 'you know, here in 2017, in an economy where a lot of people are doing it pretty hard, where budgets are tight, this is too much to be paid as CEO of a government-owned postal company'," Mr Turnbull said.
Mr Fahour defended the way he ran the organisation, saying it did not take "one dollar from the taxpayer" and in fact had delivered $4 billion in dividends to the Australian public.
