The Government was elected with a clear mandate to fix the Labor-Green budget mess.
Labor and the Greens left us with $1.1 billion in accumulated budget deficits and a net debt projected to be more than $400 million.
Our Budget takes a balanced approach to fixing that mess by reining in spending while not cutting too hard, which would damage the economy.
The pay pause is an essential part of the Budget, that’s why it’s being introduced and debated concurrently to the appropriation bills.
The pay pause will save nearly $50 million a year and over the forward estimates around $180 million, which is the equivalent of 500 jobs that won’t need to be cut.
The pay pause is not an ambit claim; it is part of the Budget.
It is no less a Budget measure than the reduction of 700 FTEs contained in the Budget, or the extra MAIB dividend, or the extra spending in health.
Like other Budget measures such as the reduction in boards and committees and the First Home Builders Boost the pay pause requires additional legislation to enact it.
Any attempt to reject or amend the pay pause legislation will compromise the integrity of the Budget, in the same manner that rejecting the proposed reduction of 700 FTEs, the MAIB dividend, the extra spending in health or the other measures that require legislation would.
Therefore, if the pay pause legislation is not supported in its entirety in the Upper House, the only way to maintain the integrity of the Budget will be by instead directing agencies to cut another 500 FTEs.
This is not our preferred option; we would much prefer these 500 public servants had a pay pause rather than no pay at all.
But at the end of the day, the Budget mess needs to be fixed, and our Budget, including the pay pause, has been very well received by the broader community.
The only contrary voices have been the unions, who would find fault regardless of what action the Liberal Government took; likewise our political opponents.
Labor has failed to offer up a plan and the Greens alternative was just fanciful.
Ultimately, this is a matter for the Legislative Council, and I trust that they will see the sense in maintaining the integrity of the Budget and like us choose to pause wages rather than require further job cuts.
Will Hodgman, Premier
