News Flash

STATE BUDGET REPORT

The Treasurer, the Hon Kevin Foley MP today delivered the 2006-07 State Budget.

Senior PSA officials President Lindsay Oxlad, General Secretary Jan McMahon, Assistant General Secretary Nev Kitchin and Chief Industrial Officer Peter Christopher attended the Budget lock-up, and also received a briefing from Minister Jay Weatherill.

The detailed Budget documents totalling several hundred pages are undergoing detailed analysis. The following are a number of key items of general application.

• The overall size of the Public Sector will not reduce over the current term of this Government. It is of concern to the PSA, however, that while some jobs such as nurses and police will increase, there will be a reduction of approximately 1600 jobs across Agencies. Details of these jobs are not available.

• Agencies will be required to produce a 0.25% Efficiency Dividend.

• The Department of Administrative and Information Services and the Office of Public Employment are to be abolished with their respective components and staff being transferred into a number of other portfolios.

• Three new prisons and a Youth Detention Centre to replace Magill are to be built. While these are long overdue and welcomed, it is a concern that they are to be built as Public Private Partnerships and that the main prison is to be at Murray Bridge.

• Shared Services proposals are to be introduced for areas of Human Resources, Finance, Payroll, Procurement and Information Technology with expected savings of $130 million.

Agency specific information will be the subject of separate briefs.

The PSA will urgently welcome feedback from members concerning the impact of Budget announcements, particularly with examples of how changes will affect the community as well as how they affect members.

The PSA will meet with Minister Jay Weatherill again tomorrow morning.

(Peter Christopher, Chief Industrial Officer via Email: pgc@cpsu.asn.au or 8205 3200)