Gai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

Before I ask a question of the minister, I just want to reiterate again the degree of damage that the Abbott government has inflicted on the Public Service since it was elected. As I said, there is form with coalition governments. Thirty thousand Public Service jobs were lost in 1996—15,000 here in Canberra, which had a devastating impact on the Canberra community and the capital region. Since this government has been elected, 17,300 Public Service jobs have been lost, with 8,500 of those here in Canberra.

The Public Service is currently going through the next round of negotiations for its enterprise agreements. As a result of that, there are many, many enterprise agreements that are now very, very overdue. They have expired and there is still no sign of an agreement on the horizon. As a result of that, a number of members of the Public Service are now looking at industrial action in a range of forms right across the spectrum. The CSIRO and government agencies, large and small, right throughout the nation are looking at industrial action as a result of the below-inflation pay offer that has been made by the government to these servants of democracy.

Particularly concerning are the cuts to conditions. Firstly, there is the insult of the below-inflation pay offer and then, secondly, there are the cuts to conditions. The cuts to conditions are of most concern to women. Women comprise a large number of the Public Service workforce and there are a number of conditions that they fought very hard for over a very long time that they are very concerned about, as they are about the below-inflation pay offer. So my attention now turns to the Defence enterprise certified agreement, and my question is: what did Defence originally budget for with the estimated pay rises for DECA after it expired, for example, in the 2012-13 budget? How did this change over time in subsequent budget statements, including MYEFO and later budgets? Were these changes to estimates made in response to or in advance of the release of the bargaining framework? What risk factors were taken into account in these changes being made? For example, what were the ranges of possible increases that were envisaged?

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