Exec salaries to stay for top-dollar talent 9-53 18 Feb 2008

The private sector has scoffed at Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s call for wage restraint following his example in nominating pay cuts for politicians. Business groups say that market forces, not the government, should determine salaries.

Spokesperson for the Australia Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Peter Anderson, says, “If we want the best and brightest from around the world to come to Australia and to provide real value to the Australian corporate sector, then the marketplace is going to require some very large salaries to be paid from time to time.”
 
While most people find executive salaries unnecessarily stratospheric, in the private sector the individual, the board, the company and its shareholders decide the amount.