Like what you've read?

On Line Opinion is the only Australian site where you get all sides of the story. We don't
charge, but we need your support. Here�s how you can help.

  • Advertise

    We have a monthly audience of 70,000 and advertising packages from $200 a month.

  • Volunteer

    We always need commissioning editors and sub-editors.

  • Contribute

    Got something to say? Submit an essay.


 The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
On Line Opinion logo ON LINE OPINION - Australia's e-journal of social and political debate

Subscribe!
Subscribe





On Line Opinion is a not-for-profit publication and relies on the generosity of its sponsors, editors and contributors. If you would like to help, contact us.
___________

Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

It shouldn’t be too hard to explain why spending must slow

By Gary Johns - posted Thursday, 12 February 2015


"Walking around the building, I saw row upon row of employees spending large amounts of their day engrossed in personal activities while … employees often spend large parts of their days in unproductive meetings. Staff are provided exceedingly generous income and benefits compared to commercial standards for the same roles.

"This in itself contributes to an inefficient workplace, as once people are in jobs that provide pay and benefits well in excess of market conditions, employees are more likely to cling to jobs."

It has been reported that a ­review into network costs commissioned by the Newman gov­ernment found "647 staffers earned more than 1½ times their base salary across the three state-owned network businesses - Ergon, Energex and Powerlink".

Advertisement

Twenty-seven staff doubled their base pay in 2011-12, which was argued to spawn "lower levels of productivity". "No forced redundancy" ­clauses exist throughout the government corporations sector, which means staff are almost unsackable.

Stories are similar in NSW.

George Maltabarow was chief of state-owned Ausgrid between 2004 and 2012.

In this period, average annual household electricity bills rose from $900 to $1925.

Maltabarow argued that two-thirds of the increases in prices were linked to over-investment in the electricity networks, the rest from increased operating expenditure and other costs, including above-inflation wage rises, large overtime bills and other perks. Both are good reasons to privatise assets.

"The ETU (Electrical Trades Union) has been able to secure wage rises far in excess of those available to the wider community through industrial blackmail and attempting to intimidate management of government-owned networks," he said.

Advertisement

"They have maintained restrictive practices in successive award determinations, frustrated attempts to contract out construction and other services and now oppose privatisation through a scare campaign on prices."

The commonwealth undertook privatisation 20 years ago. That it is still contentious at state level is testament to the power of public service unions and the paucity of politicians to explain the problems of holding commercial assets in public hands.

The Abbott government's problems are analogous. It has serious work to do to have voters understand that the commonwealth, and the states for that matter, spends more money than it raises. And it raises more than it used to.

Slogans do not satisfy the voters' need to know why change is necessary.

They ask: "Please explain?"

  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. Page 2
  4. All

This article was first published in The Australian.



Discuss in our Forums

See what other readers are saying about this article!

Click here to read & post comments.

7 posts so far.

Share this:
reddit this reddit thisbookmark with del.icio.us Del.icio.usdigg thisseed newsvineSeed NewsvineStumbleUpon StumbleUponsubmit to propellerkwoff it

About the Author

Gary Johns is a former federal member of Parliament and served as a minister in the Keating Government. Since December 2017 he has been the commissioner of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission.

Other articles by this Author

All articles by Gary Johns

Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Photo of Gary Johns
Article Tools
Comment 7 comments
Print Printable version
Subscribe Subscribe
Email Email a friend
Advertisement

About Us Search Discuss Feedback Legals Privacy