Aussie pay freeze idea gets icy reception

SYDNEY, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's suggestion that private companies temporarily freeze wages for the country's top businessmen has fallen on deaf ears.

Macquarie Bank, where retiring Chief Executive Allan Moss made $33 million a year, declined to comment on the prime minister's suggestion. Westpac Bank and Leighton Holdings, a construction company, said the size of its executive wages were up to the board, not the prime minister. So did Sol Trujillo, the chief executive of Telstra, the giant telecommunications company, who earned nearly $12 million in 2007.

Several other companies refused to comment, the Sydney Daily Telegraph reported.

The top ten executives in Australia made a combined $125 million in 2007, the report said, while overall only 4 percent of leaders at the top 200 companies in the country had shares or other options suspended because of a subpar performance.

Rudd made the suggestion earlier this week. He also proposed a freeze on wages for federal politicians.

Many politicians have agreed to the idea, while, for industry captains, the idea was met with a cold response.

More than likely, it means that executive pay will increase by 20 percent this year, the report said.