PUBLIC SECTOR EMPLOYEES

Ms THOMPSON (Reynell) (14:32): My question is to the Minister for the Public Sector. Can the minister inform the house about the size of the public sector and how that has changed over time?

The Hon. M.F. O'BRIEN (Napier—Minister for Finance, Minister for the Public Sector) (14:32): I thank the member for Reynell for the question. I noted last week—and I think most of South Australia noted—that the Leader of the Opposition said she believed that 65,000 was about the right number for the public sector in South Australia. I also noted that she later claimed that this was an error and the number of 65,000 popped into her head, as it was about the number of employees in the public sector when the Liberal Party was last in government. Given the interest in this issue, I thought it important to provide the house with information regarding the size of the public sector over time.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. M.F. O'BRIEN: As at June 2011—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. M.F. O'BRIEN: You might be interested in this. As at June 2011, as the Premier indicated earlier, there were 101,485 public sector workers. This represented about 12.3 per cent of the total South Australian workforce. As at June 2012, shortly after the Labor government came to office—

The Hon. P. Caica: 2002.

The Hon. M.F. O'BRIEN: In 2002, sorry—shortly after the Labor government came to office, there were 83,821 public sector workers.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Point of order. Minister, there is a point of order.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: I am this close and I cannot hear the minister make this very interesting answer. I would like to be able to hear it.

The SPEAKER: Thank you. Minister—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Could we please have some quiet.

The Hon. M.F. O'BRIEN: As at June 2002, shortly after the Labor government came into office, there were 83,821 public sector workers. This represented about 12.1 per cent of the total South Australian workforce. As a proportion of the total workforce, the size of the public sector has hardly moved from the time the Liberals were last in government. Going back in time, in 1994 when the Hon. Dean Brown was premier, there were more public servants than there are today: the total number being 105,836. In 1980, when the Hon. David Tonkin was Liberal premier, there were 92,150 full-time equivalent public sector employees. We have been trawling through the records this week to see when—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. M.F. O'BRIEN: —South Australia last had 65,000 public sector workers, but we suspect that it precedes the postwar years of the Playford government. I can only conclude—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. M.F. O'BRIEN: —from this that the Leader of the Opposition's claim to the effect that she based her figure of 65,000 on the number of public sector workers when the Liberals were last in government was wildly inaccurate. Given that the figure of 65,000 has nothing to do with when the Liberals were last in office, the community is perfectly entitled to speculate about the origin of this mystery number.

The people of South Australia have the right to know if the opposition leader was being candid when she revealed her belief that 65,000 was about the right number and that a reduction of between 25,000 and 35,000 public sector employees was appropriate. Was this figure based on a state of affairs that in fact never existed, or is it the outcome of opposition party-room discussion that has determined the scale of public sector cuts, which the opposition's trumpeted audit committee will be ordered to deliver?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!