Coronavirus: NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet pushing public service wage freeze

NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet has doubled down on his commitment to pursuing a public sector wage freeze.

NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet. Picture: AAP

NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet has doubled down on his commitment to pursuing a public sector wage freeze, suggesting it would be inappropriate to raise salaries at a time when wholesale job losses and pay cuts were occurring across the private sector.

Mr Perrottet told a Committee for Sydney forum on Thursday that private sector employees were enduring the bulk of the economic impact caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, as they comprised roughly 90 per cent of the state’s 4.1 million-strong workforce.

Australian Bureau of Statistics data released on Thursday showed the NSW unemployment rate rose by 1.1 per cent last month to 6 per cent, the largest monthly increase. At the peak of the global financial crisis, unemployment in NSW rose to 6.7 per cent. The data showed employment in NSW fell by 221,425, wiping out all gains made since October 2017.

In light of this data, the Treasurer reaffirmed his government’s position of considering a public sector wage freeze. The mere suggestion of a freeze has been criticised by the NSW opposition and some unions as a “pay cut” for about 400,000 workers, a significant number of whom are nurses, police officers, teachers and other essential frontline workers.

Eighty-two healthcare workers have contracted COVID-19 in NSW, according to figures provided by NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant, though not all of these cases were acquired while these workers were in a hospital.

The debate comes as NSW Treasury modelling predicts that about 219,000 extra people could be out of work over the next six months, though these numbers will almost certainly be revised given recent moves to begin easing social restrictions.

From Friday, the state hopes to slowly reignite its economy with restaurants, cafes, clubs and pubs able to operate on a table-service basis with a maximum of 10 patrons­ inside at any one time. Outdoor gatherings of up to 10 people will also be permitted.

Households will be allowed to welcome up to five visitors, while restrictions will also be eased for weddings, indoor funerals, relig­ious gatherings and outdoor swimming pools.

Complicating Mr Perrottet’s position is the fact that generous pay increases were recently awarded to a number of senior public servants.

Among the recipients were the NSW Police Commissioner, Mick Fuller, whose salary was increased to $649,500, amounting to a pay rise of 15.4 per cent.

The pay rise was approved by the Statutory and Other Officers Remuneration Tribunal in March and backdated to January.

“Ninety per cent of the state’s workforce is in the private sector,” Mr Perrottet told the forum.

“The private sector creates the wealth that the public sector spends, and at a time when we’re looking down the track of up to a 10 per cent unemployment rate in the state, a number of people are taking pay cuts, I need to make sure we balance that with our wages policy here in this state.”

In a statement provided to The Australian later, he said: “Those workers’ taxes (in the private sector) pay public sector wages, and we have an obligation to spend those taxes in a way that is fair to everyone in NSW, especially at a time when the public sector enjoys the great privilege of job security.”

NSW Opposition Leader Jodi McKay described the government’s ongoing defence of pay rises for senior bureaucrats as hypocritical at a time when frontline workers were at the greatest risk of contracting the virus.

“We understand there is a sever­e economic slump, we understand the budget is under pressure. But we draw a line in the sand when it comes to cutting the wages of 400,000 public sector employees, and for the Premier to stand there and defend the pay rises of senior fat cats, while cutting the wages of public sector employees, is not on,” the Labor leader said.