HE IS said to be the most powerful man in NSW, the state's "infrastructure tsar".
But the head of Infrastructure NSW, Nick Greiner, has cost taxpayers millions over the past 20 years because of entitlements given to former premiers who have served for at least four years.
According to figures released by the Department of Premier and Cabinet as part of a freedom of information request, Mr Greiner has claimed the most in entitlements over the past three years. He is followed by Neville Wran and Bob Carr.
Barrie Unsworth, who was premier between 1986 and 1988, has been the most frugal, only claiming an entitlement for $384.61 in the 2009-10 financial year. Mr Unsworth said this was for hire car travel to official functions with the Turkish and Korean presidents.
Figures show the entitlements of former premiers cost more than $5 million over three years.
Kristina Keneally is the only former leader to receive nothing.
In the past financial year, Mr Greiner claimed $588,532, most of which went towards staff salaries, a driver and his Macquarie Street office. He also spent $47,317 on ''other related costs''. Since 2008, he has claimed $1.83 million in entitlements from the government.
In addition, he received $262,500 last year as chairman of the manufacturer Bradken, and has been chairman of The Nuance Group, QBE Insurance Group, Blue Star Print Group and Playup.
In the same period, Mr Wran claimed less than Mr Greiner - $1.79 million - but in the past financial year he got $601,784.
As a non-executive director of Cabcharge, a position he relinquished last year, Mr Wran earned $40,354 in 2011 and $96,850 in 2010 as well as acquiring hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of company shares during his tenure.
The longest-serving premier, Bob Carr, who served for more than 10 years, comes in at third place, claiming $1.47 million over the same three-year period.
He has also worked as a consultant to Macquarie Bank since retiring from politics.
These three former premiers are the only ones who have claimed more than $1 million each in three years. The next most expensive is Morris Iemma, who held the job for three years and 33 days, and has claimed $314,996.
The Premier, Barry O'Farrell, announced a review of the entitlement scheme of former premiers in October last year.
His spokesman said the review has not yet been received.
At the time of the announcement, Mr O'Farrell said: ''The premiers who receive the vast bulk of these benefits have secured other roles in the private sector where they're well paid and probably don't need the taxpayer to meet the cost of those services.''
He also suggested premiers should be in office for more than five years before claiming any entitlements.
According to documents released by the Premier's Department, a ''long serving'' premier is defined as one who has served four or more years in office.
This entitles them to a car and driver on a full time basis, a car phone, a gold life pass for travel on all rail lines in Australia, free travel on State Transit for life, 12 first class return flights within Australia, and 12 return flights within the state.
Their spouses are allowed two first class return interstate rail trips and seven first class return intrastate rail journeys each year, for every year of service as premier. They also have free air travel if they are travelling together.
Long-serving premiers also get a home phone, an office, two full-time staff and free postage. All three former premiers were approached for comment but did not return phone calls.
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