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

Yes I do, Senator Smith. The CPSU's grandstanding recently prevented the human services department offering employees pay rises from a pool of funds that is now no longer available. The CPSU should cease its scaremongering and posturing and instead help its members negotiate what small productivity backed increases are possible, given the mess left by the former Labor government. It should abandon its unaffordable four per cent per annum or 12 per cent pay claim, which will cost at least 10,000 jobs and which will be most severe in cash-strapped agencies like the Australian Crime Commission, which is having difficulty offering any increases without cutting jobs. The CPSU should also remind its members that, over the last decade, median public service wage rises outstripped CPI increases by 14 per cent.