Mr BURKE - 2002-08-21
In your recent letter to all public servants, you state that the rewards of change are now becoming apparent. That change in your mini-budget, page 22, included a 2% reduction in government agencies which resulted in a loss of almost 300 jobs. Your mini-budget also included a further reduction of 4% funding to those agencies for 2002-03 which, based on the job losses of 2001-02, will see a further reduction of 600 jobs across the public service. Isn’t the reason you included the 4% further reduction in the mini-budget so that you would not have to show this bad news in the budget you delivered yesterday? Are these the rewards of change?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, we sat here very sadly this morning and listened to a budget response from the Opposition Leader that simply was wrong. What we have again now is the Opposition Leader simply being wrong, and it is disappointing. It is very disappointing, because when we look at what has been the difference - and we have a 600 figure being quoted by the Leader of the Opposition – which is wrong. Absolutely wrong. I think you have forgotten to include PowerWater, Opposition Leader. I think you have forgotten just a little increase of PowerWater and many hundreds of staff.
Now, let us just get this straight. When we restructured the public sector, which happened last November, we said over time there would be reductions in executive management, and that has happened. That has happened, quite appropriately. We said there would be no forced redundancies in our public sector, and that has been kept absolutely. We have had reductions in executive management, and there are no forced redundancies.
If you look over time at the figures in our public sector they flow, they diminish over a Wet season, particularly over December-January, and they will certainly grow quite strongly in the middle of the year during the Dry season. That flow happens quite regularly.
When we can look at the figures and actually compare apples with apples, there has been some reduction, but not of significant numbers. It is very hard to say at this stage what it is. What we have asked the new Public Service Commissioner to do is that apples and apples comparison. There is a lot of discussion about what in fact is a full-time equivalent, and we have seen that the numbers differ when you look at where they come from. We have asked the Public Service Commissioner to look at those so we can, on a monthly basis, check what those full-time equivalents are across the public sector.
This government is proud of the way we look after the public sector. This, from a party, when they were in government, who set about to knock 1500 out of our public sector - outsourced wherever they could. We lost public servants, and never a care in the world about it. Here they are trying to pretend that we have set about to try to get rid of public servants. What a load of rubbish!
Mr Reed interjecting.
Ms MARTIN: Did you listen yesterday? Did you listen to my budget statement yesterday - one that delivers for today and invests for tomorrow, invests for the future? Did you listen? We talked about more nurses, more police officers, more firefighters and we are funding them. Within my own Department of Chief Minister, we have growth with and an Office of Indigenous Policy and an Office of Territory Development, and we are proud of it.
This is a government that is strategically building our public sector, and we are proud of it. But let me say we will be having those numbers and we will be doing apples and apples.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, we sat here very sadly this morning and listened to a budget response from the Opposition Leader that simply was wrong. What we have again now is the Opposition Leader simply being wrong, and it is disappointing. It is very disappointing, because when we look at what has been the difference - and we have a 600 figure being quoted by the Leader of the Opposition – which is wrong. Absolutely wrong. I think you have forgotten to include PowerWater, Opposition Leader. I think you have forgotten just a little increase of PowerWater and many hundreds of staff.
Now, let us just get this straight. When we restructured the public sector, which happened last November, we said over time there would be reductions in executive management, and that has happened. That has happened, quite appropriately. We said there would be no forced redundancies in our public sector, and that has been kept absolutely. We have had reductions in executive management, and there are no forced redundancies.
If you look over time at the figures in our public sector they flow, they diminish over a Wet season, particularly over December-January, and they will certainly grow quite strongly in the middle of the year during the Dry season. That flow happens quite regularly.
When we can look at the figures and actually compare apples with apples, there has been some reduction, but not of significant numbers. It is very hard to say at this stage what it is. What we have asked the new Public Service Commissioner to do is that apples and apples comparison. There is a lot of discussion about what in fact is a full-time equivalent, and we have seen that the numbers differ when you look at where they come from. We have asked the Public Service Commissioner to look at those so we can, on a monthly basis, check what those full-time equivalents are across the public sector.
This government is proud of the way we look after the public sector. This, from a party, when they were in government, who set about to knock 1500 out of our public sector - outsourced wherever they could. We lost public servants, and never a care in the world about it. Here they are trying to pretend that we have set about to try to get rid of public servants. What a load of rubbish!
Mr Reed interjecting.
Ms MARTIN: Did you listen yesterday? Did you listen to my budget statement yesterday - one that delivers for today and invests for tomorrow, invests for the future? Did you listen? We talked about more nurses, more police officers, more firefighters and we are funding them. Within my own Department of Chief Minister, we have growth with and an Office of Indigenous Policy and an Office of Territory Development, and we are proud of it.
This is a government that is strategically building our public sector, and we are proud of it. But let me say we will be having those numbers and we will be doing apples and apples.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016