Documents released under Freedom of Information revealed the Rann Labor Government had a ‘secret army’ of 200 ‘Spin Doctors’ hidden in government departments helping the Government to spin its political messages.
“These documents list all staff working in public relations, media and communications functions as at June 2010 and the total annual salary bill is estimated at $17.4 million per annum,” Shadow Minister for Finance Rob Lucas said today.
“That salary cost doesn’t include the additional tens of millions of dollars per annum spent on non-salary costs and actual campaign and publicity costs.
“Many of these ‘Spin Doctors’ are being paid more than $100,000 per annum with the highest salary being almost $200,000 per annum.
“It is clear that Premier Mike Rann has embarked on a deliberate strategy of ‘embedding Spin Doctors’ in departments to assist him with manipulation of the media message.
“These figures are not revealed in the annual Budget Papers because the Rann Government conceals them by including them in many different budget lines.
“The Rann Government is so intent on political spin rather than substance it is wasting millions of taxpayers’ dollars every year on public relations and media management.
“This secret army of 201 ‘Spin Doctors’ is in addition to the 298 ‘Spin Doctors’ and other Ministerial staff employed in 15 Ministers’ offices.
“At a time when Mr Rann is slashing hospital, school and other important family services, there will be public outrage at the Premier employing almost 500 people for political spin and media manipulation.
“This is yet another example of the arrogance and warped priorities of Mr Rann and his Labor Government.
“It is important to note that Mr Rann’s claim of a 15 per cent cut in Ministerial staff is yet another example of political spin, as it will eventually be applied to only a small minority of these almost 500 staff.”
Please find below a breakdown of departmental ‘Spin Doctors’.
‘Spin Doctors’ in Rann Government Departments
Department – Employees – FTEs – Total Salary ($m)
* Premier and Cabinet ('09 est) – 46 – 41.9 – 3.00
Treasury and Finance – 14 – 12.1 – 1.05
Primary Industries and Resources – 11 – 11.0 – 0.89
* Transport, Energy and Infrastructure ('08 est) – 7 – 6.5 – 0.84
Attorney-General's – 23 – 18.4 – 1.43
Health – 25 – 25.0 – 2.19
Education and Children's Services – 24 – 22.4 – 1.96
Families and Communities – 12 – 12.0 – 1.12
Water, Land and Biodiversity Conservation – 9 – 8.8 – 0.59
Correctional Services – 1 – 1.0 – 0.90
Further Education, Employment, Science and Technology – 34 – 32.0 – 2.89
* Environment and Conservation ('08 est) – 10 – 10.0 – 0.56
Total – 216 – 201.1 – $17.42m
Note: (*) Departments have not responded to 2010 FOI request and estimates are based on earlier FOI responses