Big jobs net big salaries, but being forced out of the company nets even bigger payouts for Australian CEOs in line with the trend in the US, in spite of the global liquidity crunch, shrinking markets and the wholesale collapse of shareholders wealth, the growth in executive pay and golden handshake looks unstoppable.

While ordinary Australians worry about retaining their jobs, the top guns in corporate Australia are having a smooth sailing even while being terminated from the company with the average chief executive in Australia's top 100 firms laughing all the way to the bank with $3.4 million, or two years' pay, as per research conducted by corporate governance advisor RiskMetrics.

The $3.4 million in average termination payments last year given to Australia's chief executives works out to 200 per cent of their annual salary and, in the past three years, a combined $112 million was given away by one third of top 100 firms in CEO severance packages.

PBL's John Alexander and the stock exchange's Tony D'Aloisio were paid a combined whopping $22.7 million in termination payments while out of 33 who left the top 100 firms, only 5 company heads left without any payments, and two out of three left with more than $1 million despite 12 of them retiring.

Oz Minerals and Tatts were the only two companies that sought approval for the termination payments to their executives prior to them leaving, from their shareholders.

OZ Minerals CEO, Owen Hegarty was paid $8.35 million while leaving even when shareholders at an AGM in July rejected a proposal to pay $10.67 million.

The largest termination payment was made to former Santos CEO, John Ellice-Flint who left with $16.8 million while Alexander, who left James Packer's Publishing and Broadcasting was given a termination package of $15million.

An annual study of executive salaries done by The Australian Financial Review's showed the CEOs of the top 300 company's average total package was $2.97 million.

While executive salaries rose, the S&P ASX 200 index fell by 16.9 per cent and shareholders wealth declined by 17 per cent.

The average CEO collected $190 million in bonuses last year which is double the amount paid four year back and takes home 50 times the wage of an average Australian worker.

The research found that company boards broke the law in doling out these exorbitant termination packages when under the Corporations Act, shareholders' approval is required when the company wants to pay a departing executive seven times more than their total salary.

RiskMetrics, director Dean Paatsch said the research showed how urgently the corporations act needed to change and bestow powers to shareholders to control these huge excessive termination payments.

He also said that there are loopholes in the existing provisions of the corporations Act which any lawyer can break through and added that lawmakers should seal the loopholes such as share-based deals, and any payouts of more than $1 million should have the approval of the shareholder.

Opposition leader, Malcolm Turnbull said that Australia is shocked by these massive termination payouts and even more astonished that shareholders opinion is ignored and called for changes in law to give shareholders more powers to vote on the compensation packages of company directors and senior executives