PUBLIC SECTOR EMPLOYMENT

Mr MARSHALL (Norwood—Leader of the Opposition) (14:17): Supplementary, Mr Speaker.

The SPEAKER: Well, if indeed it is a supplementary.

Mr MARSHALL: I believe it is, sir. Can the Premier outline to the house the number of Public Service cuts his government has built into the forward estimates?

The SPEAKER: Leader, that is not a supplementary, but I will be happy to accept it as another question. Premier.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Treasurer, Minister for State Development, Minister for the Public Sector, Minister for the Arts) (14:18): They have previously been outlined in the budget papers.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! If you know the answer, why would you ask the question? Premier.

The Hon. I.F. Evans interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: They have.

The Hon. I.F. Evans interjecting:

The SPEAKER: I call the member for Davenport to order. Premier.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: They have previously been outlined in the budget papers. They increase for a period and then they reduce, and the net effect is 5,222 within the budget papers. They have been set out and made clear. They, of course, are of a completely different order of magnitude to the 25,000 job cuts which have been set out by—

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis interjecting:

The SPEAKER: I call the member for West Torrens to order.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —those opposite. No amount of obfuscation about the audit commission is going to prevent—

Mr Pengilly interjecting:

The SPEAKER: I call the member for Finniss to order.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —people asking the question: why can't you at some time in the next 13 months tell us how many public sector jobs you wish to cut? And you cannot hide behind the audit commission. We know that it was the strategy used by the Queensland Premier, and now 14,000 public servants are feeling betrayed by the Queensland government because they relied upon the same sort of assurances that are being given by the Leader of the Opposition.