Public Sector Employees

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Leader of the Opposition) (15:03): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Leader of Government in the Legislative Council regarding public sector workers.

Leave granted.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: The COVID-19 crisis has caused us to better appreciate, in a lot of areas, the roles of many front-line workers, such as teachers, nurses, shop attendants or cleaners. We have seen both the importance and the vulnerability in areas such as hospitals or aged-care facilities and homes of people with disabilities. Workers have left their homes and families, often exposing themselves to greater risk of COVID-19 to care for people at places that are at most risk.

Throughout this emergency, these workers have dealt with changing rules and uncertainty about protective equipment, sanitiser and other needs. In aged care, staff often have to fill a huge gap left from family and friends who have been banned from visiting. My questions to the minister are:

1. How is the government specifically supporting and valuing public sector workers on the front line during the COVID crisis?

2. What is the government's position on enterprise bargaining in the current circumstances for public sector workers who are on the front line?

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer) (15:04): Can I say at the outset, as I have said publicly and I think the Premier has said on any number of occasions, that the state government is a very staunch defender of the work that our public sector workers have undertaken. We won't brook any direct or inferred criticism of public sector workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, who we believe are working as hard as they possibly can, in particular, as I said, in trying to get much-needed funding out to industries, businesses or, indeed, individuals.

The government has been extraordinarily generous to its public sector workers, certainly as generous or probably more generous than most private sector employers. I am happy to bring back the detail of the considerable access to leave and support arrangements that the government, together with the Commissioner for Public Sector Employment, have made available to our public sector workers.

One of the key ones has been a new provision of 15 days special COVID-19 related leave. I am happy to bring back the conditions or eligibility requirements in relation to those, but certainly most sections of the public sector, from the CEOs down, have been generally pretty generous in terms of allowing flexible working arrangements for those who want to work or need to work from home in terms of providing support to allow that to occur. As I said, there are also very generous leave arrangements.

In relation to enterprise bargaining, whilst there is considerable pressure nationally for a public sector wage freeze, as the minister responsible I have not gone down that particular path. I believe the commonwealth government have issued a determination that there be a public sector wage freeze. I believe the Queensland Labor government have either specifically indicated or have hinted at a policy of a public sector wage freeze. The New South Wales Liberal government have indicated that they will be implementing a public sector wage freeze. The position that I have adopted on behalf of the state government is the one that I have adopted for a long period of time on behalf of the taxpayers of South Australia; that is, we have budgeted for sensible and reasonable salary increases, and that is all that the taxpayers of South Australia can afford.

We endured a long, 18-month period of industrial disruption in relation to the AEU dispute, but the government remained steadfast in terms of saying the taxpayers couldn't afford more than the reasonable salary increase that had been budgeted for. We certainly couldn't afford the demands for 3 and 3½ per cent salary increases that were being made by union bosses in the public sector.

Whilst I can't dictate what national cabinet may or may not ultimately decide, because we have seen the national cabinet make decisions in a variety of areas and there are clearly differing views amongst Liberal and Labor governments nationally about the efficacy of a public sector wage freeze, my position on behalf of the government, and I have relayed this directly to representatives of public sector unions, has been there are reasonable and sensible salary increases budgeted for.

It would make sense that we settled these particular disputes in a reasonable fashion as quickly as possible. We believe it would be in the interests of the public sector workers themselves but also in the interests of the taxpayers of South Australia. There is no doubting that we and the taxpayers of South Australia are going to be confronting massive budget deficits and significant increases in public sector debt as a result of coping with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The final point I would make, as I have indicated—and I am sure all members in this chamber would applaud me for doing so—is there will be a wage freeze for ministers and for members of parliament. There will also be a wage freeze for ministerial staff, and a wage freeze for public sector executives as opposed to public sector workers more generally. That is as far as the state government has gone in relation to the issue of public sector wages insofar as it relates to the leader's question, more broadly, on enterprise bargaining.