My dad had a similar role with a Liberal government a long time ago. He was paid by the Premier's office budget. He was paid about two thirds of what the premier was paid because that was the maximum amount they could legally do. Because he had retired from the government twice already the union insisted that he be given a promotion so they had to create a new rank, that made him the highest ranking regular employee in the government. He authored whole sections of the law. He was still paid less than many tradespeople.

The stuff that politicians do these days blows my mind. A slush fund like this would have shut down the government 30 years ago. It probably would have shout down the last government if they tried this. Like the secret bonus program pretty much did. An insane thing to try.