The public service pay freeze legislation introduced today allows the Hodgman government to impose a longer pay freeze than 12 months by introducing regulations rather than needing to bring legislation back to the Parliament again.
“The Hodgman regime is not only freezing public sector wages for 12 months with no mandate, but has sneakily introduced legislation that will allow it to regulate to freeze public sector wages for a further 12 months, or even longer,” said Greens Leader and Treasury spokesperson Kim Booth MP.
“A one-off piece of legislation to override lawful agreements and the Tasmanian Industrial Commission is bad enough, but to create a provision which allows the government to sneakily extend the pay freeze for an indefinite period simply adds to the breach of trust.”
“This legislation opens a back door that will allow the Liberal majority government to extend the pay freeze without needing to legislate again.”
“This is a devious and cowardly way of avoiding having to front the Parliament, front the public or front scrutiny in the future,” Mr Booth said.
Kim Booth MP | Greens Leader
