Commissioner Erma Ranieri told ABC Radio Adelaide this morning that the government had “room to move” on the salary it proposes to offer Taylor’s replacement should the “right person” be appointed to the role.

Latest government records, accurate as of January 16, show Taylor is currently paid an annual salary of $382,932 excluding superannuation.

Taylor announced last month she would resign as chief executive of the Department for Child Protection on April 28, following months of intense scrutiny surrounding the deaths of two South Australian children whose families had contact with her agency.

The government has launched a global recruitment process to find Taylor’s replacement by April, but Premier Peter Malinauskas last week admitted that the task would be “ambitious”.

It comes as the Victorian Government searches for new boss for its child protection department, with the SA Opposition claiming it is offering a salary of up to $747,497.

“I’m not sure that we can pay that much – it’s not the amount we pay in South Australia – but it may be considerably more than what it is now and I think that’s important,” Ranieri said this morning.

“Bearing in mind Victorian salaries are generally a bit higher than South Australian, but there are a whole lot of other things that we attract candidates to South Australia on and that is the lifestyle and basically living in South Australia would probably be easier in terms of getting accommodation than other states.

“If we need to pay more to get the best candidate, I’ll provide the Premier with advice in relation to that.”

Ranieri, who is spearheading the government’s search for Taylor’s replacement, said she had contacted five local recruitment firms asking them to submit proposals by the end of today.

She said she would select a firm within the coming days, with job advertising to start “within the next week or so”.

“Then really it’s how quickly we can find the right person and we’ll certainly be asking that recruitment firm to work very hard to do that very quickly,” she said.

“I’m confident that we would probably get close to knowing who the person might be by April.

“Often then, if it is someone globally, getting them across to South Australia and giving notice if they’ve got a job somewhere else often is the difficult bit.

“For someone at that level, often they are taking time to give notice in their other employment.”

Ranieri said she was hoping to recruit someone with experience dealing with the “complexity” of child protection, as well as “capabilities that will think outside the square”.

“What we do need is someone who can lead this agency, I guess, given all the reform that actually needs to occur,” she said.

“We’ll be looking for someone who can actually look at the challenge going forward.”

Taylor’s resignation comes after the state’s child protection system was once again in the spotlight over the past year, following the deaths of six-year-old Munno Para girl Charlie Nowland in July and seven-year-old Craigmore boy Makai Wanganeen in February.

Police are investigating whether both children, whose families had contact with the Department for Child Protection, were criminally neglected in the lead-up to their deaths.

Both deaths sparked public outcry, leading to a review by former police commissioner Mal Hyde, and a commitment by Malinauskas to conduct urgent welfare checks on about 500 South Australian children who were identified as living in “extremely vulnerable” situations.

Taylor has faced sustained questioning over her department’s involvement with the children’s families and its processes for dealing with at-risk children.

In recent years, she has also been criticised for not being aware that a 13-year-old girl in state care had fallen pregnant to a pedophile until a journalist asked the department to respond to the court sentencing remarks, which were made public.

Opposition child protection spokesperson Josh Teague said it was important for the government not to rush the process to find Taylor’s replacement.

“(Victorian Premier) Dan Andrews is already offering up to an extra $364,565 in salary to find Victoria a new child protection boss and after more than six months they still don’t have a replacement,” he said.

“It took Premier Peter Malinauskas almost five months to find a new SA Health chief executive. How does he expect to find a worthy replacement for child protection in just 12 weeks?

“The reality is we could be without a new child protection boss for a year if the right person doesn’t come along.”