[ajdlinux]

Here in Australia, the majority of academics and university staff fall under union agreements with publicly available pay scales, so you can work out at least an approximate pay grade based on minimal information about the people involved. I also happen to live in the capital, where about a third of the working population is employed by the federal government, the vast majority of whom are covered by union agreements on standard pay scales. It's fairly normal to talk openly about being an "APS5" or an "APS6" knowing that many people around here wouldn't even need to look up the pay scales to know your salary from that.

I get the impression though that in general Australia has a fairly similar level of taboo-ness about salaries as the US, it's not something you really talk about with co-workers.