The Canberra Times has analysed base salaries for Australian Public Service 6 (APS6) and Executive Level 2 (EL2) employees at each department, along with the two largest agencies, Services Australia and the Australian Taxation Office.
The Department of Education, at which Tony Cook is the secretary, has the highest base salary rate for APS6 employees. Picture by Gary Ramage
In case you need a refresher on public service responsibilities, APS6 staff are expected to work on complex tasks with limited supervision. They generally have a lot of technical knowledge and can apply policy well, but they do not have anyone reporting to them.
EL2 employees hold key leadership roles and generally have quite a few staff reporting to them. They are responsible for developing strategies and policies, along with providing advice to senior management.
There is one level - Executive Level 1 - between APS6 and EL2.
Each department sets out minimum salaries slightly differently. Our analysis works off the base rate recorded in 2024-027 enterprise bargaining agreements.
Best and worst pay for APS6
There are four departments at which APS6 staff are paid a six-figure base rate this year.
Employees at the Department of Education have the highest base rate of $101,833, up from $98,105 in 2024.
That is closely followed by Treasury, where an APS6 earns at least $101,799. At Veterans' Affairs, APS 6 staff earn a base salary of $101,449, and at Finance, the base rate is $100,392.
There is almost a $2000 difference between the fourth and fifth best-paid departments - APS6 staff at Department of Industry earn $98,716 minimum.
The lowest-paid department is Home Affairs, at $94,563, followed by Services Australia at $94,711.
There are six departments at which the APS6 base rate is $95,000-odd, including Defence, Infrastructure and Climate Change.
Best and worst pay for EL2
The best-paid EL2 staff are at Treasury, earning a minimum salary of $162,193, up from $156,255 in 2024.
At the Department of Finance, they are earning at least $157,419, followed by $153,912 at Veterans' Affairs and $150,784 at the Australian Taxation Office.
All other analysed agencies have a base salary in the region of $140,000, with the exception of Defence, where the base is $139,681, and Services Australia, at which it is $137,090.
The departments with the biggest difference
Upwardly moving public servants may find Treasury the most lucrative department to stay in. There, the EL2 base salary is 59 per cent higher than that of an APS6.
The second-largest gap, 57 per cent, is at Finance, followed by the Australian Taxation Office and Department of Agriculture, both of which have a 54 per cent gap.
The smallest growth is at the Department of Education, where there is a 45 per cent difference between the base salaries.
How pay compares to census results
There is limited correlation between rates of pay and the likelihood of staff recommending their workplace, an analysis of the 2025 public service census results against base salaries shows.
While the Department of Education has the highest APS6 salary, it ranked fifth for staff likely to recommend it, with 83 per cent saying they would.
Veterans' Affairs is third on the ladder for both APS6 and EL2 salaries, but only 67 per cent of staff said they would recommend their workplace. It was the lowest score of any department in the category.
Notably, Treasury was one of the best-paid departments across the board, and 89 per cent of staff there said they would recommend their workplace - the highest score in the category. It also had the highest wellbeing score at 96 per cent.
