The CEO of a prominent Australian consulting firm has openly acknowledged that his salary, which is seven times higher than that of the Prime Minister, was not commensurate with his position.

The committee had convened to investigate the integrity of consulting firms providing services to the federal government, prompted by the infamous “PwC tax scandal.” This scandal involved senior partners exploiting confidential government information to assist large multinational companies in evading tax payments.

Deloitte’s executives faced criticism from Senators Deborah O’Neill and Barbara Pocock for their lack of transparency regarding salaries and employee misconduct.

The committee requested an anonymized breakdown of the number of Deloitte employees earning over $1 million, but Chairman Tom Imbesi cited commercial sensitivities as the reason it could not be provided.

Eventually, CEO Adam Powick disclosed that the average base salary for a partner at Deloitte ranged between $500,000 and $600,000.

It had been publicly reported that Powick himself earned approximately $3.5 million, prompting Senator O’Neill to question whether he believed his salary was warranted in comparison to that of the Australian prime minister.

To this, Powick replied, “No,” emphasizing that he recognized the privilege of earning such a substantial amount for his role.