The saga of Australia’s Little Venezuela of the south rolls on, true to socialist form.
Queensland has long held the crown of Australia’s Public Service State, under successive Labor governments. But Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews isn’t a card-carrying member of Labor’s Socialist Left faction for nothing.
Victoria’s public service wages bill has increased at almost four times the rate of population growth, the Auditor-General has found, warning that the Andrews government must rein in employee expenses for the sake of the state’s financial stability.
In his audit of the state of Victoria’s annual financial report, tabled in parliament on Wednesday, Auditor-General Andrew Greaves found the state’s wages bill — the government’s largest operating expense category — had risen by 40 per cent, from $19bn in 2013-14 to $26.6bn in 2018-19.
The public sector workforce increased from 217,000 in June 2014 to 263,000 in June this year — an increase of about 4 per cent per year, or 21.2 per cent in total — while the population had grown by 11.9 per cent.
Labor governments just love swelling the ranks of public servants. It’s their surest way of bribing a loyal army of left-wing voters from the Nomenklatura.
The Auditor-General also found public sector wages growth had outstripped that of the private sector, increasing at 3.3 per cent in 2018-19, compared with 2.5 per cent in the private sector.
…Coalition Treasury spokeswoman Louise Staley said the report was “yet more proof that Labor cannot manage money and cannot manage projects”.
“They’ve racked up another $13bn on Victoria’s credit card in just 12 months,” Ms Staley said. “It’s no wonder Daniel Andrews, Tim Pallas and Labor are trying to short-change our police and other vital workers: they are running out of money quickly.
“Labor needs to stop spending and start managing Victoria’s finances properly and prudently.”
theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/andrews-government-told-to-rein-in-266bn-billion-public-service-wages-bill/
And pigs need to start flying and infernos need to start freezing over.
An energy grid ready to fall over at the first heatwave, an army of public service apparatchiks, rampant street crime, a corrupt government and police. Victoria seems determined to march down the same path as every other socialist regime.