Gutwein Must Come Clean Over Formal Wage Freeze Offer

The Treasurer, Peter Gutwein, needs to release publicly the formal offer he claims the Hodgman government made to the public sector unions during Monday’s Tasmanian Industrial Commission process, or to front up and take responsibility for the 821 jobs identified to be cut, Greens Leader and Treasury spokesperson Kim Booth MP said.

“Tasmanians are fast losing confidence in the trustworthiness of the Treasurer over his handling of the public sector wage freeze and job cuts issue, due to his lack of transparency and his reliance on blame-games,” Mr Booth said.

“Instead of fronting up and taking responsibility for their decision to cut over 800 jobs, the government is trying to shunt that responsibility to the public sector unions.”
“This is cowardly in the extreme.”

“Where is the formal offer that Mr Gutwein is now hiding behind, alleging that was provided to, and rejected by, the unions on Monday?”

“Anyone with an understanding of the bare basics of arbitration and conciliation processes, knows that in this case the Industrial Commission would be attempting to reconcile the formal submissions made by the involved parties.”

“It should be documented if any formal written offer was submitted on Monday, otherwise what on earth did the state pay a gold-plated interstate lawyer to do?”

“Mr Gutwein needs to front up and put up. Table the formal offer he asserts government made to the unions so Tasmanians can see for themselves what options may or may not have been considered.”

“If it transpires there is no formal offer then Mr Gutwein will have some serious questions to answer,” Mr Booth said.
Kim Booth MP | Greens Leader