Christmas is almost certain to come a little early for politicians and top public servants this year, with the Remuneration Tribunal set to table its long-awaited reviews of their salaries today.
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The independent agency will issue three separate reports, which will recommend changes to the way parliamentarians, departmental secretaries and five other Commonwealth agency heads are paid.
Federal parliamentarians are widely tipped to gain significant pay rises worth between $40,000 to $90,000 a year, after the two major political parties agreed not to challenge the tribunal's ruling.
However, they are likely to lose several perks and allowances as a result.
Special Minister of State Gary Gray said this month, ''Legislation was passed through Parliament earlier this year to ensure that politicians could not meddle with their own pay.''
He also said the Government had asked the tribunal ''to consider reforms to other parliamentary entitlements such as the life gold pass [which provides free travel within Australia], severance travel and overseas study travel.''
The tribunal issued an interim report last year on the workloads of the 20 heads of federal government departments, which recommended significant pay rises of between $50,000 and $100,000 a year.
The secretaries of three departments - Prime Minister and Cabinet, Treasury and Defence - now have salary packages worth $539,580 a year, while the other heads earn $504,810.
But the tribunal's interim report said it was ''evident'' that secretaries' responsibilities ''extend beyond'' those of regulatory authorities, such as the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, whose heads are paid substantially more.
The other public office holders reviewed by the tribunal include the Chief of the Defence Force, General David Hurley, tax commissioner Michael D'Ascenzo, Customs chief executive Michael Carmody, federal auditor-general Ian McPhee and Australian statistician Brian Pink.
In past reports, the tribunal has also compared these roles with the heads of regulatory agencies, hinting that it believes they are underpaid.
The chairman of the tribunal, John Conde, will explain his recommendations this morning.
This reporter is on Twitter: @markusmannheim