Political advisors to Colin Barnett and ministers in his former government shared in millions of dollars in payouts after the March election, with some departing staff walking away with more than $250,000.
Taxpayer-funded payouts to ministerial staffers after the Barnett government's election defeat topped $5.6 million, with some receiving amounts new Premier Mark McGowan claimed were unprecedented.
The chief of staff to the then-water minister Mia Davies walked away with the biggest payout of $288,100.
Former transport minister Bill Marmion's chief of staff received $253,970, while former planning minister Donna Faragher's chief of staff got $224,846 after Labor's election win.
Many of Mr Barnett's top advisors were also given six-figure payouts.
In a budget estimates hearing, Mr McGowan indicated surprise at the size of some of the payouts.
"There are some very significant ones here, I must say," Mr McGowan said.
"Some of these individual payments, I have never seen ones of that magnitude before."
Payouts are calculated based on tenure and salary but also include leave entitlements, with the biggest amounts going to long-serving staff who had been on a high wage.
New jobs for staffers
Some of the staffers received sizeable payouts despite picking up taxpayer-funded jobs working for politicians soon after the election.
| Chief of staff to Mia Davies | $288,100 |
| Chief of staff to Bill Marmion | $253,970 |
| Chief of staff to Donna Faragher | $224,846 |
| Director, Premier's Office | $194,998 |
| Principal policy advisor to Mark Lewis | $191,639 |
| Senior media advisor to Michael Mischin | $158,950 |
| Director, Premier's office | $153,784 |
| Principal policy advisor to Bill Marmion | $137,302 |
| Special advisor to Colin Barnett | $122,629 |
| Principal policy advisor to Andrea Mitchell | $116,133 |
The release of the figures came after the McGowan Government announced plans to limit payouts to high-level bureaucrats, after paying out millions to departing senior executive staff in recent months.
The Government's new policy will entitle departing senior executives to four months' pay for each year remaining on their contract, equalling up to a year's salary.
Those changes will only impact the highest-paid bureaucrats who are part of the 'senior executive service'.
Figures released last week showed the Government had paid $30 million in redundancies to lower-level public servants in the past six months.
