Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Bernardi, for the question. Bargaining for the new Public Service enterprise agreements will commence shortly. These new enterprise agreements will cover approximately 165,000 public servants in 114 agencies under a new bargaining framework, to be released tomorrow. This framework is designed to deliver a fair and reasonable outcome in an environment where the nation has been left its worst financial mess ever.

As a result of the $123 billion worth of prospective Labor deficits and $667 billion worth of gross Labor debt, there will be minimal capacity for wage increases. Public Service wages need to be affordable, sustainable and within community expectations. Taxpayers should receive the benefits of significant productivity gains and get value for money for any wage increase. Recently, I addressed the CPSU Governing Council. I invited them to be mindful that unsustainable wage rises will cost other public servants their jobs and that it would be particularly beneficial for both the Commonwealth and unions to manage expectations.

The very next day to when the devastating state of the nation's finances left by Labor were unveiled, the CPSU advised that they were lodging a 12 per cent claim. That is clearly unsustainable and out of touch with community expectations. I remind them of former Labor Treasurer Frank Crean's dictum:

… one man's pay rise is another man's job.

The CPSU's 12 per cent wage claim potentially jeopardises over another 10,000 Public Service jobs. I invite the CPSU to keep those facts in mind. (Time expired)