Santa gave sparingly to some Canberra judges and ACT statutory office holders, whose latest pay rises reflected the austere times.
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But the salaries of the city's magistrates and its Director of Public Prosecutions, Jon White, increased by at least four times the rate of the average ACT worker.
This week, the ACT Remuneration Tribunal published its pay decisions for hundreds of judicial and other appointees.
The allowances paid to most officials who sit on or chair government boards rose just 2 per cent.
Their per diem, or daily fee, now ranges from $400 (e.g. members of the Tree Panel or the Public Cemeteries Board) to $1000 (e.g. Public Interest Monitor Panel members).
Supreme Court judges pocketed a 2.4 per cent raise; Chief Justice Helen Murrell's base salary is now $453,805 a year while other justices earn $412,550.
However, magistrates' pay jumped up 12.01 per cent. They will now receive $325,915 a year while Chief Magistrate Lorraine Walker will earn $371,202.
The tribunal, which is chaired by health administrator Anne Cahill Lambert, said it had considered advice from the chief magistrate, who "presented evidence of increased work value now performed by magistrates in terms of increased civil and financial jurisdiction, bringing increased complexity and a requirement for greater specialist knowledge".
It decided to tie magistrates' pay to that of other judges: they will now receive 79 per cent of an ACT Supreme Court justice's salary, which in turn is pegged to the salary of a Federal Court judge.
The tribal also decided to increase the salary of the DPP, Mr White, by 15 per cent to $408,226.
It said Mr White and the Justice Directorate had "noted that the selection criteria for the ACT DPP position was the same as the criteria for ACT judicial appointments", and agreed to push his pay up towards that of a Supreme Court judge.
Wage growth in the territory has been relatively sluggish recently, due in part to ongoing federal government spending cuts.
The pay of public sector workers in Canberra rose 2.85 per cent in the year to September 30, while private sector workers received an average increase of 2.61 per cent.