Public servants’ union calls for Queensland premier to be investigated by parliamentary ethics committee
The union representing public servants claims the Queensland premier Campbell Newman has lied to parliament about wage rises and has called for him to be investigated by the parliamentary ethics committee.
The Together union has launched an online petition calling for Newman to be referred to the committee for comments on Thursday that the government had met or exceeded inflation with past rises and future offers on pay for its workers.
Newman on Thursday told parliament he had written to the prime minister, Tony Abbott, to ask him to consider lifting a 1.5% a year pay offer for Australian defence force personnel which was “well below what this government has offered public servants”.
“I say this: this government gave pay rises to hard-working men and women in the Queensland public service that met inflation over the three years of this term. This is what we did,” he said.
Newman later said the government “offered proper inflation or higher than inflation pay deals”.
Together’s state secretary, Alex Scott, said the premier had misled parliament on both past wage deals and future offers on the table.
He said inflation data for Brisbane, where the bulk of Queensland public servants live, showed a 6% rise in the past two and a half years, over which time government workers had been given a single 2.5% pay boost.
Scott said the current offer of 2.2% from this December was below the annual average of 2.6% inflation since the Newman government came to power.
“The premier has … lied to the public service, so all we’re trying do is get the matter investigated,” he said.
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