For information and not to spark a debate on the cost of living, the equivalent salaries in Blighty or whatever here's an article which appeared in The Age:

http://www.theage.com.au/data-point/...503-2iyi0.html

Not surprised surgeons are the top earners. I used to work for a private health fund, processing claims. The bills from surgeons were always thousands of dollars.

Then I worked for Medicare, again processing claims. Some surgeons charged $300-$400 just for an initial consultation lasting a few minutes. The rebate from Medicare was just $70. As this is classed as an outpatient service the patient cannot claim from their private health fund. Hope I never get seriously ill in this country.

I suspect creative accounting from some of those profesions. No begrudging a surgeons salary when you find out what is involved getting there.

For anyone wondering...the rebate is low as it is a private surgeon. Medicare only fully covers the cost of outpatient specialist consultations in the public system not the private. Of course you'll have to wait longer.

If you're seriously ill or need emergency treatment, the publically funded treatment you'll recieve free here is top class - and you won't die waiting. If you research some other countries I'm confident you'll agree.

I've never heard of a $330 gap between a consult fee and the Medicare rebate, and wouldn't pay it anyway as I always enquire about fees prior. I visit a very well regarded neurosurgeon in Perth and the gap is nowhere near that. Also, an initial outpatient consult is always more expensive than ongoing ones, and public patients pay nothing at all for seeing the surgeon while an inpatient in a public hospital.

A good surgeon is worth his/her weight in gold, and don't charge anything like that (even the really skinny ones).

Quite right - if you see a specialist as an outpatient in a public hospital you don't pay. It's only when you see them in their rooms that you do.

The consulting gap is there and real and depends on your consultant. About $100 gap for us.

There are also a lot of surgeons who bulk bill private patients. I know of a couple of very well regarded specialist surgeons who bulk bill patients in their private rooms (not all, but a lot) and a lot of the cardiologists I work with bulk bill in their private rooms. Again, not all patients, but a good portion.

Dentists 140000? Solicitors? 113000? ......... hhhmmmm ..... don't think so

I'm surprised, my husband's salary was pretty much bang on.

I was surprised CEO's were so low but I can see how the real small companies would drag down the average. I have no issues with medical professionals being so well paid as it takes a lot of brains, hard work and many student loans to get there. Plus they have a huge amount of responsibility and are always at risk of getting sued so I think they deserve to be well paid.

With solicitors, you've got to remember that that was a general term covering everyone from judges down to new graduates - they were all lumped in the same category. TBH I have no idea what judges earn in Oz, but I do know that a lot of graduates earn less than I do as a legal secretary.

Yep, they are average salaries for a profession. A sobering thought is that, even at the current exchange rate, Wayne Rooney can earn in a WEEK what the highest paid professionals on this list earn in a YEAR - and then he spends a fair bit of that on professionals.

Yes, but Wayne's brain doesn't really give him a future after football

Swann or Rooney

I don't dispute there's a gap between a specialist's fee and Medicare, just expressing surprise at a $330 gap - it's not something I've come across before.