Public Sector Enterprise Agreement

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD (14:26): My question is to the Treasurer. Can the Treasurer outline the progress toward setting the enterprise agreement with representatives of the salaried members of the state's public sector?

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The Treasurer has the call and will be heard in silence.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! Leader and the Hon. Ms Bourke! The Treasurer has the call.

The Hon. R.P. Wortley interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: And the Hon. Mr Wortley!

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer) (14:27): It is a very important issue for our hardworking members of the public sector, and I thank the honourable member for his question. The salaried members of the public sector are the largest single component of the state's public sector, some 30,000 to 35,000 employees covered by this particular enterprise agreement.

I am pleased to be able to report to the chamber that the key union that represents the salaried members of the public sector, noting that there are a number of other unions that do represent components of the total membership, the key negotiating force, the key representative, is the PSA, the Public Service Association, and they have conveyed to me that they are recommending the government's offer to their members, which will go to a ballot in the first two weeks of November. We hope to have a result from that particular ballot in and around the middle of November.

Without going into all of the detail, the PSA successfully negotiated retention of significant components of what is known as the RRR, the redeployment process, albeit they have agreed to a concession in relation to a removal of the pre-declaration of an employee being excess process, which will shorten the process in relation to the identification of excess employees. It nevertheless remains a significant impediment to any government in terms of ongoing implementation of the policy first announced by the former Labor government some seven or eight years ago.

The government has conceded in relation to that, but the government offer, which the PSA are now recommending acceptance of, is 1.5 per cent salary increases, with a $1,000 up-front payment in recognition of the fact that there has not been a pay increase for almost two years because of the accommodation of the delays in the negotiation of the enterprise agreement and, obviously, COVID and COVID-related factors as well.

So we welcome the fact that the PSA are recommending it. There is, for example, the HSU, which is a smaller union in terms of total representation; it is still agitating for a 3 per cent increase. That is at twice the level that the PSA are recommending acceptance of. The government, whilst acknowledging that, recognises the PSA has been the major negotiator on behalf of the salaried members of the public sector and that virtually all of the settlements between the government on behalf of taxpayers and unions over the last year or so have settled in and around the range of 1.2 per cent up to 2 per cent. So any salary increase of 3 per cent or higher was clearly not possible for the taxpayers of South Australia to be able to afford.