Nurses Salaries

Mr BARRY O'FARRELL: I direct my question to the Premier. Why does the Premier expect nurses to remain working in the State's public hospitals given a survey reveals 60 per cent considered leaving last year and the stark choice he is offering between a cut in real wages or even fewer resources in wards and emergency departments of hospitals?

Mr Steve Whan: You tell us we spend too much on salaries!

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Monaro will cease interjecting.

Mr MORRIS IEMMA: As the member for Monaro just interjected, in the past criticism from the Leader of the Opposition, who at one point was a shadow Minister for Health—

Mr Andrew Fraser: A shadow?

Mr MORRIS IEMMA: Yes, he was the shadow Minister for Health.

Mr Andrew Fraser: You were the Minister.

Mr MORRIS IEMMA: Yes.

The SPEAKER: Order! Members will cease calling out.

Mr MORRIS IEMMA: As the current Minister for Health also reminds me, in the past when the agreements expired the criticism was that the Government paid more than it should have paid in public sector wages. Yes, the constant refrain of the Opposition has been that we pay too much. The second point that the Minister for Health just reminded me is that the current Health agreement has expired and this Government is renegotiating with the Commonwealth. When the Leader of the Opposition was the shadow Minister for Health he said it was a good deal that took $300 million out of Health funding, funding that could have gone to nurses and doctors and would have opened beds. That is the track record of the Leader of the Opposition when he had an opportunity to speak up.

The third point is that the Leader of the Opposition fundamentally does not understand the Government's wages policy. That is no surprise because he is an adherent of voodoo economics signed up to by the member for Vaucluse when he was Leader of the Opposition. The magic pudding: that is, go to an election—it also happens between elections—and say yes to every proposal for spending, whether it is capital or recurrent. Say yes to everybody who knocks on the door. Say, "Here's a blank cheque. What is it that you want?" At a cost of $29 billion the only way the then Leader of the Opposition was going to fund a portion of that—which was around three to four, we could not determine the exact figure because in his own words "the photocopier broke down" and he could not produce the costings in the lead-up to the election—under his policy was to sack 20,000 public sector workers. Either he was dishonest in being the Leader of the Opposition who signed up to that or he was expecting that he would carry it out and deliver a cut of 20,000. I add, that when Health comprises one-third of the State budget and he signs up to a policy that says, "If we win an election, our first budget—

Mr Andrew Stoner: Point of order: My point of order is under Standing Order 129. The question was clearly about the Premier's budget, about the shortfall in wages commitments, not about history in relation to the Opposition at the last election.

The SPEAKER: Order! There is no point of order. The Leader of The Nationals will resume his seat.

Mr MORRIS IEMMA: Given that Health makes up one-third of the budget and given that the current Leader of the Opposition was the shadow Treasurer leading up to the last election, he obviously thought that he could get away with a budget that started cutting 7,000 health workers if he had won the election.

Mr Barry O'Farrell: What?

Mr MORRIS IEMMA: That is one-third of the budget; 2.5 per cent—

The SPEAKER: Order! Members will cease interjecting.

Mr MORRIS IEMMA: So the Leader of The Nationals has disowned it—that is good to hear. I repeat: 2.5 per cent and provision of wage rises above 2.5 per cent, in offsets and productivity. There have been 11 wage settlements, not wage disputes, not wage campaigns. Eleven claims have been settled and they have ranged in salary increases of between 4 per cent and 5 per cent, including for bus drivers. The Government's policy has the flexibility to pay for more than 2.5 per cent, but all the policy says is that 2.5 per cent is funded centrally; wage rises above that are paid for by offsets from the agencies. My second point is—

The SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of The Nationals and the member for Coffs Harbour will cease interjecting.

Mr MORRIS IEMMA: In the past five years there has been an increase in the nursing workforce of 8,000. This year's budget funds an additional 300 nurses, in addition to the doctors. At the beginning of the year we welcomed 654 doctors into our health system and 1,600 nurse graduates from universities into our public hospitals. The budget funds an additional 300 nurses. It is nonsense to assume that building a new hospital is not improving the working conditions of the health professionals who work there. Ask the member for Lismore, who is deep in discussion with his colleague, if the working conditions of the health professionals at the new Lismore Psychiatric Hospital have improved by working in that brand new unit. Yes, they have.

On the issue of wage rises above 2.5 per cent, 11 claims have been settled, ranging between 4 per cent and 5 per cent. One side of politics has a funded wages policy, and another side of politics has a budget that is credible when it comes to expenditure and revenue. Those opposite have the spendometer. Do not worry—we have the Barry spendometer, which has replaced the Peter meter. As with the Peter meter, the Barry spendometer keeps replenishing, as if it were a magic pudding. Everyone who knocks on the door gets a yes.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Epping will cease interjecting.