An advertisement to recruit a senior public servant – paid up to $430,000 a year to manage "significant" South Australian government advertising campaigns – has been withdrawn.
A job ad for an Executive Director of the Government Advertising and Insights Hub was posted on the Department of Premier and Cabinet careers portal with a salary range of between $257,462 and $429,104.
The government has been accused of wasting taxpayer money on a new "spin doctor" but Premier Peter Malinauskas claims the new position was meant to be a public sector saving measure.
The executive position was advertised as being "responsible for providing both high level strategic direction to significant brand campaigns and complete operational oversight" and was to report to the premier's department.
"The first I learned of this person being paid over $400,000 or the potential of them getting paid over $400,000 was in Question Time [on Tuesday]," Mr Malinauskas told ABC Radio Adelaide on Wednesday morning.
He said he sought further details and was advised there was "no prospect of this person getting paid over $400,000".
"I've been advised they'll be getting paid less than $300,000 a year," Mr Malinauskas said.
Opposition leader, Vincent Tarzia, described the salary as "eye-watering".
"I think it sends all the wrong messages during this cost-of-living crisis," he said.
"We know that this is a government that is absolutely fixated on spin. You don't have to go too far to see the bus shelters and the bunting around the place.
"The advertising and signs advertising things like the hydrogen experiment, you know still not even a shovel in the ground after two-and-a-half years, it's just an outrageous waste of money."
Vincent Tarzia described the salary advertised for the executive as "eye-watering". (ABC News: Lincoln Rothall)
He claimed the advertised salary was excessive for the role.
"The average salary for these advertising roles when we looked at it was around the $90,000 to $100,000 mark so we just think it sends all the wrong messages and the fact that the ad might be withdrawn just says it all really," he said.
Mr Malinauskas argued the position was aimed at saving public money by consolidating the advertising units of other government departments into a single unit.
"Rather than every single government department having their own unit doing all of this work for every single government department, we are going to consolidate it into a more cohesive unit that sits under the Department of Premier and Cabinet," he said.
"The government does about $30 million to $40 million of advertising, whether it be advertising on road safety, public messaging around health, public messaging around keeping the streets clean, you name it, police messaging, recruitment advertising.
The premier says the government spends between $30m and $40m a year on advertising, such as this campaign in Melbourne spruiking the benefits of doing business in South Australia. (Supplied: SA Government)
"Someone needs to be in charge of making sure that's done in the most effective and efficient and coordinated way.
"If Vincent Tarzia believes the appropriate salary range is $80,000 to $90,000 then presumably he's about to advise the spin doctors that work for him that they're about to get a substantial pay cut and go below $100,000."
The salaries of the government and opposition's political advisers, including media advisers, are publicly disclosed annually.
The most recent figures from June show the premier's chief of staff, John Bistrovic, is paid a salary of $225,225, while the head of the premier's media unit, Adam Todd, earns $190,365.
The salary disclosed for the opposition leader's then-chief of staff was $167,110 and his then-media director was $135,777.
The advisers are also paid allowances for expenses such as telephones and a car park.
The executive director of the Government Advertising and Insights Hub was advertised as a role within the Department of Premier and Cabinet. (ABC News: Che Chorley)
The salaries of the premier and the opposition leader are legislated and calculated based on Commonwealth remuneration scales, but unlike other government salaries, they are not published in the Government Gazette.
But it is understood Mr Malinauskas's salary is in the order of $450,000, while Mr Tarzia is understood to earn close to $390,000.
In a statement, a spokesman for the Department of Premier and Cabinet said the advertisement for the executive director position was withdrawn because the higher end of the broad salary range "did not reflect the salary intended for this position".
"This position and the skills required will see the role attract the lower end of the band," the statement read.
"The Advertising and Insights Hub will deliver a more effective and efficient system for taxpayers by minimising duplication and overlap, delivering savings for taxpayers."
The spokesman said the advertisement will be updated accordingly.