Labor guaranteed its plan would result in higher public sector wages but independent analysis found it would cost nearly $3b over three years.
An independent assessment of NSW Labor’s election promise to raise public sector wages and pay for it with “productivity gains” has found the plan would cost $2.6 billion over three years.
The cost analysis from the Parliamentary Budget Office on Monday afternoon came just hours after Labor Leader Chris Minns guaranteed public sector workers would get a pay rise above 3.5% if his party won government on Saturday: “I can guarantee that as a result of the fact that we know that there’s budget savings and productivity gains with our strict economic rules in place.”
Minns had previously declined to say that wages would increase, even though a central part of his party’s platform is to scrap a cap on public sector wages imposed by the current government. As recently as last week he would only go so far as to say wage increases would be “negotiated” under a Labor government.
Read more about the discrepancies in the major parties’ costings.
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