Coronavirus: Andrews gives Victoria’s public servants a 2 per cent payrise

Victorian public servants will receive a pay increase after the Andrews government and public sector union struck a deal.

Victorian Premier Dan Andrews’s government had been attempting to persuade unions to agree to the 2 per cent pay rise long before the coronavirus pandemic, Picture: Daniel Pockett

Victorian public servants will get a 2 per cent per annum pay rise after the Andrews government and public sector union struck an in-principle agreement on Tuesday.

The government had been attempting to persuade unions to agree to the 2 per cent figure long before the coronavirus pandemic, to no avail.

The deal comes as wages for public servants in other jurisdictions have had their pay frozen.

An Andrews government spokesman said public servants were working “around the clock to protect Victorians from the coronavirus crisis”.

“They have never worked so hard, and never have they been so critical,” the spokesman said.

This agreement complies with the government’s wages policy, and ensures a fair deal for workers.”

The agreement also includes 16 weeks of parental leave for primary and secondary carers, as well as a “mobility clause”, which the government says will allow it to more easily redeploy staff to areas where surge capacity is required.

Another new clause will make it easier for staff to change roles.

In November Victoria’s Auditor-General found the state’s wages bill had increased at almost four times the rate of population growth, rising by 40 per cent between 2013-14 and 2018-19, from $19bn to $26.6bn.

The state’s population grew by 11.9 per cent over the same period, while the public sector workforce increased from 217,000 to 263,000.

Institute of Public Affairs research director Daniel Wild said the pay rise was “further evidence that there are two Australias: public servants who have been protected from the destruction of the COVID-19 lockdown measures and those in the productive, private sectors of the economy who have lost their jobs and businesses.”

“A pay rise for public servants at a time when hundreds and thousands of Victorians have lost their jobs or had their wages cut is unconscionable and will further erode trust in the Victorian public service,” Mr Wild said.

“We are not all in this together, and we never have been. Public servants have profited from the crisis, while small business owners and young Australians have been smashed.”

Mr Wild said research conducted by the free market think-tank had found 74 per cent of Australians supported a 20 per cent pay cut for politicians and senior public servants who are paid $150,000 or more.