The State Government has taken another key step in reforms to improve the efficiency and flexibility of the public sector and deliver savings to Western Australian taxpayers.
Premier Colin Barnett today introduced the Workforce Reform Bill to State Parliament as part of public sector reforms, which have the potential to generate savings of more than $2billion over four years.
The Bill will amend the Public Sector Management Act to give Government agencies the ability to, as a last resort, pay out and retrench surplus employees who cannot - or will not - be redeployed to other jobs in the public sector.
Mr Barnett said the Bill would bring WA into line with other Australian jurisdictions which already had the capacity to utilise involuntary severance measures.
The Premier said the involuntary redundancy provisions outlined in this Bill, including involuntary severance payments, would only be invoked after a transparent process that included employees being given an upfront opportunity to take up a more generous voluntary severance package, and all reasonable measures to redeploy the staff had been exhausted.
"This is not about the large scale dismissal of public servants. For example, at present there are around 139,000 public sector employees and fewer than 90 on the redeployment list, many of whom may well choose voluntary redundancy, some of whom may be subject to involuntary severance," Mr Barnett said.
"This is about ensuring State Government agencies have flexibility to achieve efficiencies in line with contemporary management practice.
"There are many reasons why the nature of a government department's activities might alter, changing its staff requirements. These changes will give departments the necessary flexibility to better respond to changing conditions and, most importantly, use government resources better.
"I am sure that all West Australians would expect that anyone who is employed and paid a wage at taxpayer expense should be engaged in productive work. While job security is always important, it is no longer acceptable for anyone to regard a job in the public sector as life-long tenure."
Employees would have access to the Western Australian Industrial Relations Commission (WAIRC) to review decisions made under the regulations up to the point of an involuntary severance and to determine whether their severance benefits comply with the regulations.
The Premier said the Bill would also amend legislation to ensure that decisions made by the WAIRC and the Salaries and Allowances Tribunal have regard to the Government's wages policy, the State's financial position and fiscal strategy, as well as the financial position of the relevant public sector agency.
As part of a suite of public sector reform measures outlined in June, the State Government announced a new wages policy to keep public sector wage increases in line with the rate of inflation. It will apply to agreements expiring after November 1 this year.
Mr Barnett said this new wages policy would stem the growth of the State Government's wages bill while ensuring the real wages of public sector workers were protected.
The reform measures also include a limited program of enhanced voluntary redundancies - targeted at around 1,000 public sector workers - and a cap on the salaries bill of government agencies.
The Premier said the program of enhanced voluntary redundancies in the public sector - aimed at up to 1,000 full-time staff or equivalent - also announced in June, was progressing well, with the interest in the program likely to exceed the allocation.
"The offer is open until the end of the year and we expect it will be strongly oversubscribed," Mr Barnett said.
"While there is a short-term cost to the Government, in the longer term these measures will introduce efficiencies and long-term savings to the public sector."
Fact File
The State Government employs approximately 150,000 employees across more than 100 agencies. Approximately 139,000 employees would be subject to the new redeployment and redundancy arrangements
The Government has implemented three successful rounds of voluntary redundancy schemes
In the past four years 1,138 full-time equivalent staff took a severance package, resulting in ongoing savings of $54million pa.
Premier's office - 6552 5000
