The ABC maintains moves to force it to disclose the salaries of staff earning more than $200,000 a year would open it up to poaching by rival commercial networks.
There's legislation before parliament to force the ABC and SBS to reveal the earnings of the highest-paid presenters.
ABC chief financial officer Louise Higgins said the public broadcaster already discloses salary bandings, bonuses, and the salary of key management personnel.
"We are not the BBC," Ms Higgins told a Senate estimates hearing on Wednesday night.
"The highest (paid) presenter at the BBC earns $3.5 million, ours is closest to $400,000 or under."
Disclosure would open the ABC up to "key talent being poached" as well as lead to increased wage pressure, she said.
Meanwhile, Ms Higgins defended the broadcaster's handling of a 1981 child sex abuse case involving former ABC producer Jon Stephens.
Liberal senator Eric Abetz criticised the ABC for seeking lawyers first before reaching out to the victim.
The hearing was told Stephens pleaded guilty to one count of indecent assault in June last year and a NSW local court sentenced him to 12 months' jail.
Ms Higgins said the broadcaster had been in email contact with the victim's lawyer last month.
"We did not lawyer up before we contacted the victim," she said.
She maintained it was appropriate for the ABC to start its internal investigation once court proceedings had finished and to get outside assistance to ensure it was comprehensive.
The results of the investigation were inconclusive.
The broadcaster had been unable to get access to the police file despite lodging a freedom of information request.
The ABC had spent $14,000 on external legal services.
Senator Abetz also disputed the ABC's decision to broadcast the story about the case in NSW but not nationally.
"The story was treated on its merits," editorial director Alan Sunderland said.
Australian Associated Press
