Commissioner For Public Employment returns to Fair Work Commission after claiming ‘deadlock’ over NT Public service agreement
The NT Government and 10 unions will face a week-long mediation hearing in the Fair Work Commission, after just the first-round offer was rejected by the majority of public servants.
The future of more than 14,000 Territorians’ pay packets will be under intense scrutiny as the NT Government returns to the Fair Work Commission to negotiate with unions.
The Fair Work Commission has listed a five-day hearing this week to discuss an application from the Commissioner For Public Employment Nicole Hurwood, which claimed the NT Government had reached a deadlock over the public service pay deal.
Ms Hurwood said that parties were “unable to resolve the dispute” over the proposed four-year enterprise agreement, just months after the government’s first-round offer was rejected in September.
It comes a month after Fair Work Commissioner Bernie Riordan heard the government’s application that parties were “unable to resolve the dispute” during a closed conference hearing in October, despite unions maintaining they were willing to continue the usual bargaining process.
The NT Government’s application comes after their first-round offer was rejected in September, with 62 per cent of public servants knocking back initial offer of a 12 per cent pay increase over four years.
At the time, Public Service Minister Jo Hersey said she was “disappointed” the 3 per cent per year offer was rejected “when other Territorians are doing it tough with cost-of-living pressures”.
The 2025-26 NT Budget estimated that the inflation rate — known as the Consumer Price Index — would rise by 2.9 per cent in the next financial year, before dropping to 2.4 per cent in 2026-27 and 2.5 per cent the next two years after.
This means that under the proposed offer, real wage growth for public servants would be just 0.1 per cent in the next financial year, followed by 0.6 per cent and then 0.5 per cent.
Effectively the government proposed only a 1.7 per cent real wage increase over the total four years.
In a letter to unions from the Public Employment Commissioner, Ms Hurwood said the proposed pay increases were “affordable to government” and above the projected CPI.
But union representatives have repeatedly stated that the 3 per cent wage offer was inadequate, with workers also flagging the need for additional protections including safe worker ratios, commitments to fill vacancies, safety improvements, fatigue management, workload protections and other entitlements.
Since negotiations began Senior Corrections management, hospital support services workers and allied health workers have all been approved to take protected industrial action.
Under the government’s February Wages Policy, Ms Hurwood said any increases to “salaries, allowances and structural changes” above the 3 per cent cap would need to be “offset by productivity or work-practice improvements”.
The NT News has been told it is very unusual for any union to be asked to create a cost cutting plan on behalf of their employer, let alone multiple government departments.
The OCPE has revealed that across the 10 unions involved in the public employment negotiations, there had been over 270 claims aired during the bargaining process.
In her latest annual report Public Employment Commissioner said that negotiations started in February, five days after the controversial 3 per cent Wages Policy was released.
It said this included 35 negotiation and subgroup meetings in the four months to June 30.
Despite this, by the time the Government released its first-round offer in September it was still at the 3 per cent wage cap announced in February.
In the annual report the OCPE said one of its core focuses was negotiating “enterprise agreements that offer competitive salaries and entitlements”.
On Friday Ms Hurwood’s office was asked if the 3 per cent offer across the public service was considered “competitive” compared to other states and territories.
“The aim is to deliver a remuneration package for employees under this agreement that is fair, affordable and sustainable for the Territory,” Ms Hurwood said.
Despite telling public servants that every department’s wage increases would be capped at 12 per cent over the four years, the NT Police Association was able to secure a 15 per cent pay deal, including backpay.
The NT Budget said public service employee expenses accounted for about 40 per cent of the government sector’s total expenses, and were estimated to total $4.05bn per annum.
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