South Australia’s former Governor, Her Excellency the Honourable Frances Adamson AC, will receive a pension of $159,024 every year for the rest of her life, InDaily can reveal.

The pension was signed off by SA Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis on October 16 and appeared in Thursday’s Government Gazette.

“I, the Hon. Tom Koutsantonis MP, Treasurer of South Australia (the “Treasurer”), pursuant to Sections 3 and 4 of the Governors’ Pensions Act 1976, hereby provide for and authorise the payment of an annual pension on and from 7 October 2026, for life, of the sum of $159,024 to Francis (sic) Jennifer Adamson, a former Governor of the State of South Australia,” it read.

As previously reported in InDaily, Governor Frances Adamson was on a salary package for 2026 of $521,720 plus superannuation, according to a remuneration document, with a total of $560,00 set aside for her salary and allowances in the 2026-27 State Budget.

Under the Governors’ Pensions Act 1976, former governors who served for more than four years and six months are entitled to a pension of no more than 30 per cent of their salary while governor.

A state government spokesperson said Adamson’s pension “is consistent with pension arrangements for the past three Governors”.

“The Governor’s salary is currently set as determined by the Remuneration Tribunal to be equal to that of a Puisne Judge of the Supreme Court of South Australia,” he said.

“We thank Her Excellency Frances Adamson AC and her husband Rod Bunten for their extraordinary contribution to the state.”

Premier Peter Malinauskas and Opposition Leader Ashton Hurn both praised the popular former Governor at a State Reception to mark the end of her service in September, with Hurn saying her term was marked by “grace”.

SA Greens Leader Robert Simms said he had “a huge amount of respect for the former Governor and the contribution she has made to our state”.

However, he believed the amount that former politicians and governors receive as a pension was “well out of step with community expectations”.

“I do think however that these kinds of pensions, whether they be for former Governors or former politicians, are really excessive and well out of step with community expectations, particularly as we grapple with a cost of living crisis,” he said.

Adamson, who became governor on October 7, 2021, officially ended her five-year tenure as SA’s 36th governor on October 6, with Police Commissioner Grant Stevens announced as her replacement.

Today Stevens is working his last day as Police Commissioner with a guard of honour, police band and police horses organised for a farewell event this afternoon.

At the time of announcing her retirement in April this year, Adamson said that Premier Peter Malinauskas had asked her to stay on, but she turned down the offer.

Adamson has a distinguished career in politics and as a diplomat.

This includes serving as Vice Consul at the Australian Consulate-General in Hong Kong from 1987 to 1990, as well as a short-term assignment at the Australian Mission to the United Nations in New York, and she spent four and a half years as a political counsellor at the Australian High Commission in London.

She also spent three and a half years leading the Australian Commerce and Industry Office in Taipei, as well as being Australia’s Deputy High Commissioner in London from 2005-08, chief of staff to former Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith, Australian Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China and as a foreign advisor to former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

In June 2021, Adamson was made a Companion of the Order of Australia for “eminent service to public administration through the advancement of Australia’s diplomatic, trade and cultural interests”.

When asked for comment, Government House directed InDaily towards the state government.

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