Tram, train drivers strike for better pay as judiciary strikes it rich

PAY DAY: South Australia's top judicial officers will receive hefty pay increases despite the State Government wanting them limited. Source: AdelaideNow

The salary of the Chief Justice John Doyle will rise from $383,920 to $411,650 as a result of a determination of the independent Remuneration Tribunal.

Supreme Court judges will have their pay increased by $24,770 to $367,520.

Chief Magistrate Liz Bolton's salary will rise by $20,460 a year to $303,650 while State Coroner Mark Johns' salary will increase to $300,270 from $280,030.

The increases are backdated to November 1.

The tribunal had been asked by the State Government to take into account its commitment to limit salary increases across the public sector to no more than 2.5 per cent a year, including for SA public sector executives.

The Government submission said any increases to judicial salaries should not exceed 2.5 per cent.

It also said judicial salaries had increased more quickly than the average SA workforce wage and had increased more than twice the inflation rate.

However, the judges, in their submission, said the tribunal should continue to set salaries in a national framework and in the national interest.

They argued that because federal salary increases for the judiciary would flow on to other states, the same increases should flow on to SA judges.

They also said it was contrary to the national interest to allow a gap between the salaries of federal and state judges to emerge.

"A significant reduction in the status and authority of state courts would result if parity with federal salaries is not maintained," judges say.

While the Government suggested the tribunal should place greater emphasis on economic indicators applicable to SA, including that SA wages were lower than Australian wages on average, the tribunal said the data provided did not warrant any greater emphasis on economic factors.

There were no public submissions opposing the increases.