Shark One vs Air Force OneHow Australia keeps its leader grounded — pay, planes, houses and transparency, side by side.

This morning's piece looked at a US$400 million gifted palace being sent back to the shop for upholstery. Fair question: how does Australia treat its own leader? Short answer — well, but nowhere near royally.

This is a side-by-side on the four things that matter: pay, planes, houses and transparency. All figures are in the currency stated (A$ or US$).

1. Pay: the PM actually earns more

This one surprises people.

• Australian PM: about A$622,000 a year. The Remuneration Tribunal — an independent body — froze all MP pay in 2026, the first freeze since COVID.
• US President: US$400,000, unchanged since 2001, plus a US$50,000 expense allowance, a US$100,000 tax-free travel account and US$19,000 for entertainment.
• In 2024, Anthony Albanese became the first Australian PM paid more than the US president.
• Fun fact: Australia's 16 department secretaries each earn more than the PM — from about A$828,000 up past A$1 million.

Takeaway: on salary alone, Australia is not the frugal one. The real gap is in everything wrapped around the salary.

2. Planes: a shared fleet vs a flying fortress

Australia doesn't have a dedicated prime ministerial jet. The RAAF's No. 34 Squadron in Canberra runs a small pool shared by the PM, the Governor-General, ministers and visiting dignitaries:

• 2 × Boeing 737 MAX 8 Business Jets (in service from 2024)
• 3 × Dassault Falcon 7X
• 1 × KC-30A tanker with a long-range VIP fit-out, for trips that need it

The business jets have a conference table, office space, secure satellite communications, and a private section for the PM. Comfortable. Not gilded.

The US runs two dedicated VC-25A 747s (about US$325 million each), with the Qatari 747-8 now filling in and Boeing's VC-25B program reported at US$4.49 billion.

3. The hourly bill

This is where the gap gets absurd.

How the Australian number was worked out: the PM's special-purpose flights cost A$967,630 for about 180 hours (112 domestic, 68 international) over that quarter.

A fair caveat — these aren't measured the same way. The US figure is fully loaded; Australia's leaves out lease and fixed costs. A 2013 ABC fact-check estimated the lease alone added roughly A$8,000 per flight hour. Even adding that back in generously, Australia's leader flies for something like one-twentieth of the hourly cost.

4. Houses: a bungalow and a harbour cottage

• The Lodge, Canberra — a Californian-bungalow-style home that cost about A$2.8 million in today's money to build. Its biggest refit in recent memory (2013–15) came in at around A$9 million — and that refit was so troubled it prompted an official review and a new advisory committee.
• Kirribilli House, Sydney — an 1850s harbourside house used for official hospitality, open to the public one day a year.
• The PM's spouse gets no salary, no official duties and no staff.

The White House is a 132-room working palace with its own budget line for the residence. Different league, different scale.

5. Transparency: published, but patchy

Australia publishes a schedule of every special-purpose flight's cost every six months. That's more than most countries do.

But it's not spotless:

• Detail was watered down in 2022. On security grounds, the guidelines were changed and route and passenger details are now kept secret.
• Delays. Data lands six to twelve months after the flights.
• "Ghost flights." In the second half of 2017 alone, empty VIP jets flying out to collect or return from dropping off ministers cost more than A$365,000.

The case for the other side

To be fair to Washington:

• Scale is real. Air Force One is a nuclear-era command post: hardened against electromagnetic pulse, able to refuel mid-air, and built to run a war. A business jet doesn't need to be.
• Threat level differs. A US president's security footprint reflects global reach and global enemies.
• The salary is low. The president is paid less than many US corporate executives, and less than Australia's own top public servants.

So it isn't fair to say the presidency should fly a 737. The fair question is narrower: where does capability end and pageantry begin?

Verdict

Australia pays its PM well, then mostly stops there. The jet is borrowed from a shared pool. The houses are heritage homes, not palaces. The costs get published, if late and thinned out.

The US pays its president modestly, then wraps the office in a level of hardware, staff and splendour no other democracy matches.

One system treats the leader as an employee with a security detail. The other is drifting toward a sovereign with a salary — and the Qatari jet's "cosmetic upgrades" suggest which way the drift is heading.