House of Assembly Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3) 51 3 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Answers to Questions Public Sector Wages PUBLIC SECTOR WAGES In reply to Mr GRIFFITHS House of Assembly Goyder PUBLIC SECTOR WAGES In reply to Mr GRIFFITHS (Goyder) (10 September 2008). The Hon. K.O. FOLEY House of Assembly Port Adelaide Deputy Premier Minister for Industry and Trade Minister for Federal/State Relations PUBLIC SECTOR WAGES The Hon. K.O. FOLEY (Port Adelaide—Deputy Premier, Treasurer, Minister for Industry and Trade, Minister for Federal/State Relations): I have been provided the following information: The member for Goyder accurately points out that the cash flow statement for the Department of Treasury and Finance administered items (2008-09 budget paper 4, vol 1, p. 3.39) shows an increase of some $60 million dollars in the line 'contingency provisions—employee entitlements' between the 2007-08 budget of $16 million and 2008-09 estimated outcome of $76 million. Consistent with long standing practice, the salaries and wages contingency disclosed at budget time under the employee entitlements contingency line may not reflect the status of provisioning. This is so that the government’s wage contingency is not revealed to potential bargaining parties. Consequently, in any given year the increase between budget and estimated outcome for the employee entitlements contingency line may in part be explained by the internal redistribution of funds between contingency lines as enterprise agreements are finalised and paid. Subsequent to the 2007-08 budget, revisions were made to wages contingencies to allow for expected and actual outcomes for certain employee groups. Also, as the cash flow statement reflects actual cash payments for the financial year, variations to budget can also reflect particulars of the timing of payments, rather than the change in expected wage increases as they accrue over time.