Average cost of SA’s public servants rises 3.9pc in a year as 50 join executive ranks – despite service cutbacks amid COVID-19

The average cost of each SA public servant jumped nearly 4 per cent in 2020 despite the recession, as 50 more highly paid executives were appointed.

Fifty more highly paid executive positions have been added to the public service and the average salary of all workers jumped to $87,102, despite the COVID-19 pandemic and recession, a report has revealed.

The 2020 State of The Service report shows the average cost of employing a public service worker increased 3.9 per cent over the last year, despite the national inflation rate sitting under 2 per cent.

Pay rises for non-executive public servants this year were between 2 and 2.5 per cent, but the 3.9 per cent average cost increase factors in promotions, and additional pay for people filling in for absent staff at higher levels.

But the increase came despite a one-year freeze for state MPs, department heads and ministerial staff because of the coronavirus crisis.

Executive numbers increased during the year from 1328 to 1378, and women have for the second year in a row topped men in the executive ranks, with a record 52.76 per cent of all positions in 2020.

Last year the figure was 51.2 per cent, and in comparison women make up 50.7 of the SA population.

Aboriginal employment within the public sector also increased by 2.64 per cent to 2291.

The annual report by Commissioner of Public Sector Employment Erma Ranieri was tabled in state parliament last week and records how the service is meeting its targets.

Ms Ranieri said the year had been challenging for the service.

“The public sector has stood alongside South Australians, delivering essential public services, supporting the economy and facilitating effective government decision-making,’’ she said.

Renewal SA was responsible for 19 of the new executives, after accepting Ms Ranieri’s definition of the role and reclassifying some top-level staff.

The annual report was tabled in State Parliament by Commissioner of Public Sector Employment Erma Ranieri.

Changes in health, organising into regional local health networks, has also increased the executive headcount.

Public Service Association general secretary Nev Kitchin said a significant number of extra executives had been appointed to implement privatisation of services, which he argued had run more efficiently, with more accountability, and to a higher standard, when in public hands.

“Department of Infrastructure and Transport chief executive Tony Braxton-Smith has directly appointed three former associates on $1m contracts to privatise our rail services,’’ he said.

The highest average annual salaries for all employees in 2020 are found in the Commission on Excellence and Innovation in Health ($144,105), and the lowest at the Barossa Hills Fleurieu Local Health Network ($68,442). Ms Ranieri was critical of the failure by departments to review the performance of their staff.

SA Department of Infrastructure and Transport CEO Tony Braxton-Smith.

Her report found fewer agencies than in 2019 are requiring employees to undergo the twice-yearly reviews, despite being told to do so by a “Premier’s Direction”.

The number of agencies which followed the directive dropped from 95.59 per cent last year to 70.43 per cent this year.

“I will work with chief executives and agency heads in the coming months to understand the situation and how it can be prioritised,’’ Ms Ranieri said.

“During the year, agencies advised me that there had been 696 investigations into breaches of the Code of Ethics, with 51.15 per cent finding that a breach had occurred,” the report states. This compared with 47 per cent in 2019.

Ms Ranieri also highlighted an increase of 48 staff with a disability, to 1482 employees.

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