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The former Coalition government imposed a punitive 2.5 per cent wages cap on its workforce throughout its time in government, before slashing that to 0 per cent during the pandemic.
While essential workers put themselves at heightened risk during COVID-19, working on the frontline to keeping our state running, the Liberals and Nationals froze their pay.
The NSW Government is Australia’s largest employer with around 450,000 employees. Freezing their pay left families and households worse off in every corner of the state.
In a Budget Estimates hearing today, the Shadow Treasurer Damien Tudehope cheered on that move.
MINNS: A lot of them [essential workers] can’t forget that during COVID, you didn’t have 2.5 per cent as a wages cap, you put it down to zero.
TUDEHOPE: Yes
MINNS: Good decision?
TUDEHOPE: Very good decision.
Mr Tudehope was minister for finance at the time.
Mr Tudehope also told Budget Estimates that real wages grew under the former government. This is false. There was a real wage decline over the 12 years of the former government.
Under Mr Tudehope’s reign as finance minister, the disrespect shown to essential workers left our state with a recruitment and retention crisis.
Last year, the Minns Labor Government scrapped the wages cap, last year delivering a 4.5 per cent pay increase for public sector employees. This was the biggest pay increase in more than a decade.
Teachers and paramedics have gone from being among the worst remunerated to best in country to among the best paid.
Nurse retention levels have returned to pre-covid levels, and 2000 more nurses have been hired since we were elected.
Police recruits are signing up again to join the force, with a 50 per cent increase in applications.
The Government’s wages offer to recruit, reward and retain essential workers is a 10.5 per cent increase that outpaces forecast inflation, along with a cost-of-living supplement.
This landmark proposal meets or is higher than public sector wage offers currently available in other states, with the opportunity for further pay increases through the delivery of deliver productivity reforms and other offsets.
This offer respects essential workers while also managing the budget responsibly.
The Coalition delivered the biggest deficits in NSW’s history and handed us a record debt that was on track to reach $188 billion.
They managed to ruin the budget while ripping off the people who keep our state running, and today they had the gall to celebrate their disastrous legacy.
Essential workers will always be worse off under the Liberals and Nationals.
