Premier Ewart Brown's salary puts him just outside the top ten highest paid leaders in the world.

Dr. Brown is paid $162,862 as Premier, and a further $54,287 as an MP, giving him a total of $217,149.

That leaves him just behind Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, whose salary of $229,000 puts him tenth in the international list compiled by The Times in the UK.

Top of the pile is Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who earns $2.47 million a year — with the explanation that the pool of talent in Singapore is so small, the salary needs to be extortionately high.

US President Barack Obama and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown both earn more than Dr. Brown, with salaries of $400,000 and $279,000 respectively.