Image copyright Getty Images

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has called on the country's state postal operator to reconsider the pay awarded to its chief executive.

It has emerged that Ahmed Fahour earned A$5.6m ($4.3m; £3.4m) last year - more than ten times the PM's salary.

Mr Turnbull said the remuneration was "too high".

Australia Post defended the payout, saying it included a bonus due to Mr Fahour who steered the business from loss to profit in 2016.

The organisation is government-owned, with politicians on all sides saying the salary was too high for a civil servant.

'Competitive business'

Mr Fahour's total payout for the year to June 2016, included a A$1.2m bonus as well as all other benefits including superannuation (pension contributions), Australia Post said.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Mr Fahour joined Australia Post as chief executive in 2010

"It's a very competitive business and we need to pay competitive salaries," the firm's chairman John Stanhope told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

He added that all the firm's profits - and almost three-quarters of its sales - came from its parcel business, which competed against the likes of DHL and FedEx.

The salary details emerged after a request from Australia's Senate.

Australia Post stopped routinely publishing executive pay information after its 2014-15 annual report, but Mr Stanhope said there had been "no intended secrecy, or lack of transparency".