Local Government News

New Labour government to act on NSW public sector wages promise

Eliza Sayon Mar 28, 2023

2 min read

New South Wales’ recent election has seen the rise of the Australian Labour Party as voters back the party’s pledges on anti-privatisation, better public sector wages and cost of living relief.

Labour’s election win in NSW on Sunday has brought the state into the fold of Labour-governed States and Territories, leaving Tasmania as the outlier.

“After 12 years in opposition the people of New South Wales have voted for a fresh start,” Incoming NSW Premier Chris Minns told supporters in Sydney late on Saturday.

“The people of New South Wales voted to put in a government that would put people at the heart of all decision-making”.

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Labour’s campaign during the NSW election promised to boost public sector wages in the midst of cost-of-living concerns.

The Mandarin reports that the incoming Premier said he wants a “sensible resolution” to lifting the public sector wages cap.

“We know we’re going into these negotiations with economic principles in mind but there is a [opportunity] to talk about what we can do in NSW and have a genuine negotiation, as I said during the campaign,” he said.

“Every other state doesn’t have a wages cap in place.”

According to Government News, one of Minns’s was a promise to abolish the 3 per cent public sector wage cap, which had been set to drop down to its previous level of 2.5 per cent in the next two years.

Incoming NSW Environment Minister Penny Sharpe further confirmed that the NSW Government will open discussions with public sector employees regarding their pay rise and work conditions.

“We’ve made a commitment that we want to sit down with public sector workers … and discuss with them not just the issue of wages but also, the issues of conditions and recruitment and retention,” she said.

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The Mandarin also reports that the Public Service Association (PSA) is hoping that the new Labour-backed government will reasonably negotiate with them on the interests of NSW’s public sector workforce.

“What we are looking forward to is a government that has committed to scrapping the unfair and arbitrary wages cap which has restrained our members’ wages below the cost-of-living increases and led to a retention crisis across the public sector,” PSA Assistant General Secretary Troy Wright said.

“We are looking forward to a government that is willing to reasonably negotiate in the interests of both the workforce and the people of NSW.”

Eliza Sayon

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Eliza is a content producer and editor at Public Spectrum. She is an experienced writer on topics related to the government and to the public, as well as stories that uplift and improve the community.