The salaries of the executives at the body overseeing the WestConnex motorway project appear higher than those of other top NSW public servants but their actual size will remain secret because Sydney Motorway Corporation refuses to reveal how many senior managers are on its books.
The latest annual report for Sydney Motorway Corporation shows the amount paid to senior executives in the 12 months to June totalled $5.15 million, up from $1.21 million a year earlier.
The report lodged with the corporate regulator lists SMC's four executives during the 2015-16 financial year as chief executive Dennis Cliche, chief financial officer John Kite and two others who did not serve a full 12 months. Executive director Peter Regan resigned in November 2015, while Roderick MacKinnon was appointed company secretary in February 2016.
SMC has declined to reveal the total number of "key management personnel" during the year, which means taxpayers will remain in the dark about how much each of its senior executives were actually paid.
In contrast, the state's top public servants such as Transport for NSW secretary Tim Reardon earned between $441,201 and $509,750 in the 2015-16 financial year. Barangaroo Delivery Authority chief executive Craig van der Laan's base salary was $565,000, while he could earn an extra 12 per cent if he met performance targets.
SMC's role expanded to overseeing both funding and building of the 33-kilometre motorway in 2015 when it was merged with the WestConnex Delivery Authority.
A consequence of the merger was that SMC was not subject to freedom-of-information requests, removing a level of public scrutiny that applies to other government bodies and departments.
NSW Labor leader Luke Foley said the salaries for the top executives overseeing a project "plagued by multi-billion dollar cost blow-outs" should be made public.
"Incredibly, the government passed specific regulations to exempt it from the standard freedom-of-information laws and then suppressed the secret report on home acquisitions. It is time for the secrecy to stop," he said.
"It is public money being spent. The salaries should be disclosed."
But Roads Minister Duncan Gay accused Labor and the Greens of fuelling "urban myths" about WestConnex, including those about cost blow-outs.
"I wouldn't trust them to fund or build a kids' sandpit for Tonka trucks, let alone deliver a world-class motorway, like WestConnex," he said.
The largest motorway project in the country has been controversial in Sydney's inner west where a large number of properties have been compulsorily acquired to allow for its construction.
Labor has repeatedly attempted to find out the salary of Mr Cliche, who sits on SMC's remuneration committee. In 2014, Mr Gay said Mr Cliche's salary would be released "in the normal procedures" after Labor MP Walt Secord attempted to find it out in budget estimates hearings.
A subsequent filing by the WestConnex Delivery Authority showed two of its executives earned an average of $552,332 in the 2014-15 financial year.
A SMC spokesman said compensation for senior management outlined in the latest annual report included that paid to Mr Cliche, Mr Kite, Mr MacKinnon and "a number of other executives who meet the definition of key management personnel".
But he declined to say how many people were classified as key management.
He said there had been a significant increase in construction activity and planning for WestConnex in the 2015-16 financial year, and a "corresponding increase in corporate activity to support those projects".
"This included the contracting and financing of the New M5, which secured $3.5 billion in finance for the project. This significant escalation in activity requires additional staff to support the effective delivery of the projects," he said.
The cost of WestConnex has climbed rapidly since a $10 billion project was proposed by Infrastructure NSW in 2012. Three years later, the cost ballooned from $15.4 billion to $16.8 billion.
