SA Budget 10-11 (Public service)

[fisho mcspaz]

I haven't read the details yet, but I heard that the government is going to sell off the Wittunga botanic gardens - is this true?

[Psyber]

I haven't read the details yet, but I heard that the government is going to sell off the Wittunga botanic gardens - is this true?

Jeez, it's beginning to sound like Mike Rann is turning into Jeff Kennett isn't it..
They may have to sell the Wittunga site if the protesters [including the local Council] at Mt Barker manage to block the massive rezoning proposed there.
The state needs the developers' bribes - sorry "contributions"..

[Jimmy_041]

Perhaps the Premier and the treasurer do not talk or what ever -- Bit hard to argue with a written letter one would think?

http://www.cpsu.asn.au/commitment.pdf

I still wait to see how they get around this signed legal document that is in force until 2012?

http://www.industrialcourt.sa.gov.au/in ... 38D90EE57D

Perhaps bully boy tactics again

Well, I think that backs up my comment that you voted these people in again

The Rann government will go down in history as one of the worst, and untrustworthy, administrations South Australia has ever had - we really do rival New South Wales for stupidity

[redandblack]

Nor even close to NSW.

No current government is.

[Psyber]

I guess this belongs here as much as anywhere, as it is the states that are not providing the positions and the necessary senior supervision for practical experience.
This supervised practical experience is required by law for registration and prior to entering supervised specialist training.
Despite the federal government's increase funding to train more doctors they won't actually get out into the community if they can't get this supervised practical training in a real environment because of state priorities.
[Like pay rises for MPs.]

http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/193 ... 00910.html

From the Editor’s Desk

Orphan interns and blundering bureaucrats
Martin B Van Der Weyden
MJA 2010; 193 (6): 313

By all accounts, our health system is in chaos. We need more money, more hospital beds, more doctors and more nurses. General practitioners and some specialists are either in short supply or inappropriately distributed. Strategies to remedy this parlous state have been proposed, but the will to institute these policies remains frustrated by political hesitancy or bureaucratic ineptitude.

A case in point is the uncertainty surrounding the training of junior doctors. In the past decade, we have seen an unprecedented increase in new medical schools and the number of domestic medical students. The latter is projected to increase to 2920 in 2012, from 1544 in 2007. Add to this the estimated numbers of international medical graduates (517) and Australian Medical Council graduates (146), and by 2012 the number of doctors seeking internships (some 3500) will easily exceed the number of positions available — currently about 2200.

This blatant mismatch is symptomatic of a lack of integrated forward planning, as interns are a state concern and tertiary education a federal responsibility. Could it be that the bureaucrats are clinging onto fragments of the blame game? However, there are other players: our universities! Increasing medical student numbers has meant the kudos of a new medical school for some, while others have enjoyed increased revenue flowing into the faculty coffers.

But what has been done about the looming internship gap? Very little, it would seem, beyond committees and reports. We are now confronting a tsunami of medical graduates, but with no tangible national action to boost the capacity of our hospital system to absorb them.

There are rumours that the first to bear the brunt of the lack of intern positions are international medical graduates, followed by domestic fee-paying students. We may well see a repeat of what happened with the Modernising Medical Careers training program for junior doctors in the United Kingdom, when medical students and doctors marched in the streets in protest.

Someone is responsible for the mess we find ourselves in, and heads should roll within the ranks of our prevaricating and blundering bureaucrats.

The Medical Journal of Australia
Martin B Van Der Weyden, Editor.

[dedja]

The government didn't go far enough ... how about going the whole hog and removing tenure for public servants?

And before you start the howls of protest, I have worked for the State government twice.

Firstly for 8 years as a public servant, and then later for 3 years at a Government Owned Corporation.

The idea of paying public servants to leave is absurd ... only those who will be retiring soon and those who would have left anyway will take them up.

How about retrenching those on the redeployment list for starters FFS?

[GWW]

Does anyone know when the leave loading is going to be removed?

I believe the changes to long services leave are changing July 1 2011, but i haven't found a starting date for the leave loading removal..

[Squawk]

Does anyone know when the leave loading is going to be removed?

I believe the changes to long services leave are changing July 1 2011, but i haven't found a starting date for the leave loading removal..

I have a feeling the same effective date will apply but it will have to be legislated first.

I was wondering if PS will be paid out the 17.5% on annual leave already accrued? Or given the extra two days per 20 accrued? or neither?

[BenchedEagle]

Does anyone know when the leave loading is going to be removed?

I believe the changes to long services leave are changing July 1 2011, but i haven't found a starting date for the leave loading removal..

yeah from what i got out of my conversation with our PSA rep is that to change this is needs to be legislated, also there is an enterprise bargaining agreement in place until 2012 which can not be changed. We dont think to Govt has done any decent legal research on how difficult it will be to remove our loading. PSA will fight tooth and nail to keep this ( I will see as this will b my 1st experience where the PSA has had to act on anything).

Im sort of torn here. Im goin against the union im a member of by believing the public service can be reduced in numbers, i know of a few crap jobs on ASO 3,4 levels within my department that sit in Riverside and really do nothing. But i do support fighting against losing our benefits.

[Ian]

Im sort of torn here. Im goin against the union im a member of by believing the public service can be reduced in numbers, i know of a few crap jobs on ASO 3,4 levels within my department that sit in Riverside and really do nothing. But i do support fighting against losing our benefits.

I know of some dead wood positions as well, I'm with you in regards to some areas need reducing.

Entitlements are another matter, no extra benifits such as staff discount etc, not allowed to accept any gifts, lower wages than private or commonwealth equivelants....................take away a few benifits and the is nothing left to entice people into the public service or retain them once they are there.

Foley was asked at a press conferance, "do you value your public service?".............. his reply ............."no comment"

[Squawk]

The proposed replacement of leave loading with 2 extra days leave is slated from 1 July 2012.

The revised long service leave arrangements are slated to start from 1 July 2011.

[dedja]

The security of tenure isn't worth anything?

[Squawk]

The security of tenure isn't worth anything?

Yes it is - a salary which the PSA quotes as being 30% below equivalent roles in the private sector.

Of course, that PSA figure is a sweeping generalisation but in general terms, it would apply to more senior staff than junior staff because comparatively, junior classifications are typically well remunerated compared to the private sector yet the opposite applies to more senior staff.

So in essence, the trade off that tenure brought with it was a salary that is intended to be below that of a similar private sector role.

In truth, it is the PSA who should be copping a fair bit of blame for the Budget outcomes, notably the way in which salary outcomes for public servants have been well below those of other awards over the last decade. They have been weak as p*** in pursuing claims - especially wage claims - and equally weak when it comes to representing the comparatively low percentage of members they have left.

Ironically, ask Jan McMahon about her personal tenure arrangements should she be turfed out of the PSA. She has a sweet deal of her own to fall back on. I have no doubt she can also produce a letter for that deal too.

[gossipgirl]

The security of tenure isn't worth anything?

Yes it is - a salary which the PSA quotes as being 30% below equivalent roles in the private sector.

Of course, that PSA figure is a sweeping generalisation but in general terms, it would apply to more senior staff than junior staff because comparatively, junior classifications are typically well remunerated compared to the private sector yet the opposite applies to more senior staff.

So in essence, the trade off that tenure brought with it was a salary that is intended to be below that of a similar private sector role.

In truth, it is the PSA who should be copping a fair bit of blame for the Budget outcomes, notably the way in which salary outcomes for public servants have been well below those of other awards over the last decade. They have been weak as p*** in pursuing claims - especially wage claims - and equally weak when it comes to representing the comparatively low percentage of members they have left.

Ironically, ask Jan McMahon about her personal tenure arrangements should she be turfed out of the PSA. She has a sweet deal of her own to fall back on. I have no doubt she can also produce a letter for that deal too.

Unfortunately you are correct the PSA have always been useless and thats why the government can get away with anything.

[Psyber]

Admittedly, these figures come from Isobel Redmond's own site and are part of the Liberal response to the state budget.
However, if the figures are correct, the unfunded liability is back into Bannon government territory and it may explain the rush to reduce the number of public servants before it gets any bigger.

Governments must be stopped from spending money that should be put away for superannuation liability each year, and invested at arm's length earn interest to fund it, as is required in the private sector.
I had assumed they would have learned that from the experience in the Bannon era..
Gone are the day's when Don Dunstan admitted spending state superannuation funds and said, "It's all right, we are the government, we'll replace it when it is required."

http://www.isobelredmond.com.au/LiberalPolicies.aspx

Unfunded Superannuation Liabilities.
Budget Papers show that at June 2001, the General Government unfunded liability stood at $3.2 billion.
Under Labor, the unfunded superannuation liability has blown out to $9.5 billion.

[Psyber]

This is a post script to the "Orphan Interns" item I posted further up the page and from the same web site.
It appears there has been extra funding announced for training but there exists, still, some question over the post-graduate experience bottle neck.
Twelve months experience in a supervised Internship is a requirement for young doctors before they can obtain full registration to practice except under supervision in a hospital.

The state public service normally funds these positions as the new graduates are used to staff public hospitals, under supervision by senior doctors at the hospitals.
Presumably the state will be expected to fund extra positions, and provide the extra supervision, unless the federal government gives extra grants to the states to go with its extra funding for undergraduate training.
I wonder if either level of government has actually thought it through?

Clinical training has been given a shot in the arm with funding for up to 12,000 additional undergraduate places announced by the Federal Government...... Commonwealth agency Health Workforce Australia has allocated 37% of the new training to rural and remote areas of need, while nursing and midwifery will share in a large slice of the funding pie.

The AMA welcomed the announcement, but said it would only achieve the desired future medical workforce results if it were complemented with extra training places for medical graduates once they have finished their university courses.

“Long-term planning is needed for the medical workforce training required for students graduating from medical school to ensure that they have a seamless journey on their way to becoming fully trained doctors,” AMA president Dr Andrew Pesce said. [Yesterday’s] announcement addresses the start of the training process for the larger numbers of medical students, and we now need to see co-operation between governments to guarantee intern, prevocational, vocational training for these students after they graduate.”

[Bat Pad]

The best thing this government has ever done. At nearly 55 I was thinking of leaving anyway, I'll be applying for a package ASAP This will decimate our unit a large number of experienced people will be out the door and there has been no succession planning to cover the losses. Well done Mike and Kev, thanks for the two years salary..... ain't socialism grand

That's capitalism, mick, not socialism.

Socialism is what capitalists ask for when they stuff things up.

I'm unsure exactly what getting paid for no longer working is, but it isn't capitalism.

[Psyber]

The security of tenure isn't worth anything?

Yes it is - a salary which the PSA quotes as being 30% below equivalent roles in the private sector.

The trick in private industry is that for most people the senior jobs are harder to get, as there are less of them as a percentage of staff total.

When I left the security of public employment back on November 24th 1975, my salary in SA was 16% below interstate salaries and my net income in private was double what I'd been paid in public.
Now the reverse is true as Medicare rebates have risen by only 64% of CPI and operating costs since 1975.
However my primary reason for leaving was because I objected to clerks trying to tell me how to treat my patients.
I hadn't even considered going private until I got sick of that - I'd been in the public service nearly 8 years.

[fish]

I haven't read the details yet, but I heard that the government is going to sell off the Wittunga botanic gardens - is this true?

Apparantly not according to todays Advertiser

[GWW]

http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/local/8621 ... -so-foley/