OPINION: The public sector workforce is growing again, having been cut to streamline state expenditure amid the McGowan government’s budget repair efforts.
OPINION: The public sector workforce is growing again, having been cut to streamline state expenditure amid the McGowan government’s budget repair efforts.
Mark McGowan came to office promising a leaner government than that of his predecessor, Colin Barnett, who oversaw a debt bill that surpassed $30 billion and a string of large deficits.
As part of their cost cutting, Mr McGowan and his treasurer, Ben Wyatt, announced that 3,000 public sector jobs would be slashed as they sought a leaner, more focused government workforce.
However, almost three years later, the clock is being wound back.
Many of the public sector jobs that were outsourced, mainly under previous Liberal-Nationals governments, are returning under the Labor umbrella, much to the delight of affiliated unions.
In his first budget, in 2017, Mr Wyatt gave details of the ‘voluntary targeted separation scheme’ (read redundancy) for public servants to deliver around $1 billion in gross savings across the forward estimates period, adding that it was expected to result in net additional savings of $355 million.
In the 2018-19 budget, it was reported that the scheme was on track, although full implementation would take a longer period than previously anticipated.
Current opposition leader Liza Harvey has seized on the latest employment figures from the Public Sector Commission (PSC), which show that, following a drop of 0.3 per cent in the public sector workforce (full-time equivalents) in 2018, numbers picked up 1.4 per cent to 111,932 last year.
Similarly in public instrumentalities there were 177 more jobs (0.4 per cent) last year, taking the total to 43,020. Ms Harvey has legitimately asked where the savings are.
That’s the least of the unions’ concerns, however. They are more than happy with developments. They much prefer their members to be employed under the same roof, rather than scattered through the private sector where union membership might be frowned on, and far more difficult to organise.
It also gives Labor-affiliated unions more clout in party forums. It’s easier for cabinet ministers to be called to account at Labor executive meetings, for example. This is where, as one fired-up delegate told a party conference, ‘the tall poppies can be cut down’. That delegate later became a government adviser.
The influential United Voice Union, to which many Labor MPs (including ministers) owe their endorsements for safe seats, has been one of the major beneficiaries.
A Labor election promise was to employ an extra 300 education aides in schools, reversing a move by the Barnett Liberal-National government, which had claimed the ratio of aides to teachers in Western Australia was far higher than the national average and that cutting numbers would not adversely affect standards in schools.
According to the PSC report, the aides (median salary $50,168) are now the single biggest growth area, their numbers jumping 17.4 per cent in four years. Coincidentally United Voice represents them, whose secretary, Carolyn Smith, is also Labor’s state president. Education Minister Sue Ellery worked for the union before election to the Legislative Council in 2001.
Former Labor premier Alan Carpenter had an uneasy relationship with United Voice while education minister after the Gallop government’s election (2001). He resisted union pressure for all school cleaners to be restored as government employees, preferring a public-private sector mix, which enabled relative costs to be compared.
The union’s secretary at that time was Dave Kelly, now water minister. In fact Mr Kelly has been busy himself, announcing in November that metropolitan water production and wastewater treatment services would be brought back in-house, affecting 170 jobs, following a similar decision in August involving a further 250 jobs.
The government claims the changes will improve efficiency and save money, exactly how the Court coalition government justified outsourcing the services in the 1990s. They both can’t be right.
The next biggest growth has been in medical practitioners (median salary $150,479), where numbers have jumped 11.5 per cent. They are followed by: prison, transit and security officers ($85,873) up 7.7 per cent; teachers ($103,660) up 5.6 per cent; and police ($97,440) up 5.3 per cent.
One area where numbers dropped – in line with the stated aim of emphasis on improved face-to-face service delivery – is in clerical and administrative jobs ($66,256) with 7.5 per cent fewer positions.
The overall growth trend is set to continue, with Mr McGowan flagging many outsourced jobs at the Fiona Stanley Hospital will return in-house as contracts expire.
So the public sector gets even bigger. Who really benefits?
