600 jobs saved in SA?
By Melanie Sjoberg
ADELAIDE — In the lead-up to the South Australian budget, Premier Lyn Arnold announced that previously projected cuts of 600 jobs in the public sector would not go ahead. The content of the budget, handed down on August 26, has revealed his undertaking to be a mirage.
Following the budget announcement, all public service agencies will be required to find "greater efficiencies", and workers will be obliged to accept "pay restraint". The budget imposes a 4% spending cut across all government departments.
"This means that services will go", Jan McMahon, secretary of the Public Service Association, told Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly. "The jobs will still be lost because you can't reduce spending by 4% just by saving pens and paper."
McMahon said that the union was awaiting details from departments before it could be sure of the full impact. She pointed out that the real damage had already been done by the April economic statement, which slashed 3000 jobs.
The remainder of the budget lacks substance. Schools have been allocated $12 million for essential works, but this will have limited impact on conditions that have eroded over several years. Some schools have been waiting as long as three years for maintenance requests.
$11.5 million has been allocated for 500 youth training and work experience positions in the public sector, but this will hardly touch the 40% youth unemployment rate in the state.
$58 million goes to a "social justice strategy" designed to boost eligibility for concessions of pensioners and low income earners. The public transport system also received a boost of $64 million to replace buses and trains, with the promise of improved services to the hills, north and southern suburbs. This may begin to rectify some of the dramatic cutbacks that have occurred over the last two years.
On the other hand, the Multi-Function Polis received a $34 million contribution, despite the fact that there is no work planned for 1993-94.