An update on Tasmania's public sector released by the Hodgman Liberal Government today confirms we remain on track to deliver the savings outlined in the Budget.
We said that the nearly 25,000 public sector Full Time Equivalents (FTEs) would be reduced by 821 FTEs this year. As of the end of January this year, the public sector had already been reduced by 668 FTEs, meaning we are well on track to reach our target by the end of June.
It's important to note that while the public sector workforce has declined by 668 FTEs during this financial year, around 7,000 jobs have been created in the broader economy since the election in March 2014.
No one has been sacked and there have been no forced redundancies .The Government has reduced the size of the public sector through voluntary redundancies and vacancy control while also reducing the cost of the public sector through the Workforce Renewal Incentive Program (WRIP).
The cost of the voluntary redundancies to date has been $10,356,433 – an average of just over $58 000 per redundancy, while the total cost of WRIPs is $10,704,269, an average of just under $21,500 per WRIP. These costs are one-off and will mean ongoing structural salary budget savings in future years.
It's also important to remember that all WRIPs are offered only because they have a viable business case on each position being renewed and refilled at a lower salary level.
In the interests of full transparency the update released today also shows FTE levels and changes across each agency, including across broad job classifications.
Wherever possible we have done everything we can to protect frontline services while making the necessary savings – remembering it is a fact that no frontline adjustments would have been necessary had the pay freeze proposal been accepted.
These savings need to be made to ensure that the budget returns to a sustainable position so we can afford to pay for essential public services into the future.
We know there is still a lot of work to be done but this shows what a sensible, disciplined Government can achieve.