Ministerial Staff

The Hon. I. PNEVMATIKOS (15:12): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Treasurer regarding ministerial staffing numbers.

Leave granted.

The Hon. I. PNEVMATIKOS: In an article in The Advertiser dated 7 February of this year, the now Treasurer, the Hon. Rob Lucas, said he would reduce the number of staff in ministers' offices by 50 positions. On Monday, the chief executive of the Department of Treasury and Finance said that there would be two less staff per office. Based on a calculation and given that there are 14 ministers, this equates to a reduction of only 28 staff. Where will the remaining 22 positions come from? Are the positions that will be cut advisers or administrative staff? And will the Treasurer commit to maintaining that reduction over the life of the government?

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer) (15:13): The Marshall Liberal government was elected on a platform of cutting back waste and financial mismanagement within the public sector. Part of our policy—

The Hon. K.J. Maher interjecting:

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: We are actually answering our questions. I'm still waiting for 15 years for some of the questions that we put to you. The leader leads with his mouth wide open. He can put both feet in it now.

In relation to the question that the member has put, this is one of the promises that we made. It has been kept and will be kept for the duration of the four years. I do not know whether I might get a supplementary question from one of my ministerial colleagues in relation to this, but it was a commitment, it has been implemented and it will be implemented.

It's simply on the basis of the total numbers of staff, both ministerial contract staff, which are the ones that are gazetted once a year, and public servants who are seconded for a period of time into ministerial offices. The Hon. Mr Wortley, when he had the very important tasks of local government relations and industrial relations minus WorkCover, I think had somewhere between 19 and 21 staff to help manage those very, very onerous duties that he had.

We have taken the view that you don't need somewhere between 19 and 21 staff in ministerial offices. On average, they will be reduced or have been reduced by approximately four per ministerial office, which gives you the 50. At the moment, the reality is, because of the time taken in actually employing new staff in ministerial offices, the numbers are actually somewhat less than the entitlement.

I think there are questions on notice and freedom of information requests that are in the process of being returned. The honourable members will find that the total numbers of staff are actually less than the full-time establishment quota that has been established for each office. I am sure that won't last for long, as ministers staff their offices to their full entitlement both with a combination of ministerial contract staff and departmental staff seconded into their offices. The answer to the question is, yes, it's a commitment that we have kept, and yes, it will be a commitment that we keep for the four years of the parliamentary term.