PUBLIC SECTOR EMPLOYEES

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (15:15): I have a supplementary question arising out of the minister's answer. Given that the minister—

The Hon. A. Bressington interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: Given that the minister supports the government's policy to slash more than 4,000 public servants from the state public sector, can he indicate to the chamber how many public servants have been cut from portfolios or agencies that report to him over the last three years and how many are intended to be cut during the forward estimates period under the current budget parameters?

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for State/Local Government Relations) (15:16): Over the last couple of years, SafeWork SA have reduced their numbers by 12. I understand there is one more to go, so we are looking at 13. Any cuts that we have to make, we have also made internally by internal operations, which is naturally a matter for SafeWork SA's management. We made sure that we did not affect frontline services; that is why we have reduced the number of injuries in this state by 38 per cent since 2002.

We have actually increased. We still have many more numbers now in SafeWork SA than we had when we took over back in 2002. We are proud of our record in SafeWork SA and we will continue to work to ensure that workers are safe in their workplaces. I will say this: if there is a cut of the magnitude which the Liberals' policy dictates, there will be a massive reduction in services which will result in fatalities and injuries in the workplace.

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Lucas has a further supplementary arising from the answer.