NT Public Service Executive Cuts Proposed

In the reply to the Treasurer’s bloated executive public service numbers the Leader of the Opposition Jodeen Carney announced in her budget reply that she would review and reduce the numbers of senior executive public service officials who are in the $120,000 pay bracket or above. This will be to pay for election promises that would see increased numbers of staff on the coal face of service delivery.

“Mums and Dads who are shelling out their hard earned monies to support bloated executive public servant contracts which are now costing an additional $30 million per year and even more next year as this Chief Minister continues to employ more and more fat cats.” Ms Carney said.

“There are up to 500 Executive Contract Public Servants on an income of $120,000 dollars or more. Where are the outcomes to show for this investment?

“We have made commitments but we believe in service delivery from the front. Not employing more executives to sit behind desks writing endless reviews and policies that will never see the light of day.

“We have made commitments to put more police on the beat and we have plans to put more nurses in hospitals.

“We are not afraid of making the upper echelons of Government a lean mean fighting machine.

“We have projects that will deliver better reading outcomes for our children and plans for systems that will see the introduction of reading programs for our very young.

“We also want to introduce the HECS Incentive Payment Scheme (HIPS) which would pay for the HECS costs for nurses and doctors who either stay or come to the Territory.

“We will monitor the progress of the Government’s proposed system of attrition and we will not be afraid to take some of the fat from the fat cats if it means better outcomes in the work place and better service delivery to Territorians.

The Treasurer has been caught playing fear politics in response to the Opposition Leader’s Budget Response, because he has no answers to the key issues that were raised by Ms Carney.

Ms Carney announced $8 million to put 5 additional police patrols on the road every day.

Ms Carney announced an increase in the funding provided to building a new senior high school in Palmerston.

Ms Carney announced $1 million for her Life Long Learning Program which included Reading for Life for kids aged 1 and 4 and the Chief Minister’s Reading Reward Challenge for students in years 1,3,5 and 7.

Ms Carney also announced in her speech that the savings for these programs had been found.

“This Government has presided over, not massive increases in front line staff, but massive increases in executive level staff. We have seen some 136 additional executives with their six figures salaries been taken on the books,” Ms Carney said.

“These 136 staff represent a direct additional cost to the budget of around $30 million per year. We are not getting bang for our buck by this massive increase.

“The opposition makes no apologies for the fact that we will reduce these numbers, and will do so to a level that is more sustainable. We believe that we have found the $9.7 million worth of savings necessary to fund our program announcements.

“We will not be making wholesale cuts across the front line services of the public service, as the Treasurer is attempting to mischievously suggest.

“We are working on ways to reprioritise our public service towards greater levels of service delivery staff, and this is evidenced by the fact that I announced 40 new police positions as part of my budget response.”

2006-05-03