$700 million in public servant wages could have been saved

About $700 million in public servant wages could have been saved by keeping pay rises to same level as private, CCIQ claims 

ABOUT $700 million in public servant wages could have been saved if pay rises had been kept to the same level as private enterprise, a major employer group said.

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry Queensland also claimed that its own survey showed that the public servant job cuts were having little or no effect on business.
CCIQ president David Goodwin said the current budget savings and job cuts would not have a negative impact upon the state economy.
He said the 20,000 job losses represented only 0.85 per cent of the State's entire workforce.
The CCIQ survey said only 1.3 per cent of businesses stated that public sector expenditure cuts were hurting their business.

Mr Goodwin said Queensland businesses should not be concerned about the changes being made in the public sector.
"Like any business, Queensland's State Government cannot go on living beyond its means and expecting tax payers and business to fund an ever increasing deficit,'' he said.
He said since the GFC wages growth for the private sector in Queensland has grown by 15.7 per cent yet public sector wages in Queensland has grown by 19.4 per cent.
"This difference would account for approximately $707 million in budget savings in 2011-12,'' he said.
Applying private sector wage outcomes to the public sector would have wiped a quarter of the budget deficit off the books.

couriermail.com.au 20 Aug 2012

At the same time the government is whingeing about 105 Victorians being on unemployment benefits for 'too long', worth allegedly $26 million over 20 years i.e. $1.3 million per year, a government supported money for mates scam cheats tax payers to the tune of $707 million in one year.