A Political Fable

Photo courtesy The Australian

Queensland politicians will get a pay rise of about 40% from the beginning of this financial year.

So – big deal – you say.

Well, yeah, 40% is a fair whack.

Contrast that with the 3%/4% pay rises that most ordinary workers (including public servants, over 13000 of whom were sacked by the LNP government) have been able to win lately.

The average rise of $57000 would employ a public servant for a year. That’s the rise only.

Now this is pretty scandalous stuff, and the LNP are aware of the odium it places them in.

So they’ve come up with a distraction. The distraction was announced at a press conference where the actual extent of the rise was kind of caught up with it.

The side story is this –

That evil Labor premier Anna Bligh was out of line legally when she introduced a freeze on pollies pays back in 2009. Those evil ex-Labor MPs will be “named and shamed” if they claim the back pay that they are entitled to.

The real story is this –

An exorbitant pay rise of 40% has been granted to Queensland politicians.

The actual rise itself is more than many Queensland workers earn annually.

The LNP government has the numbers to legislate to deny the rise.

Queensland is broke.

The LNP is currently stripping away Public Servants’ conditions.

It has absolutely nothing to do with what Anna Bligh attempted in 2009.

Jeff Seeney was left to break the bad news.

Noddy Newman is on holidays.

How convenient.

Update -

This letter from Noddy, only about a week ago, makes interesting reading, particularly the reference in para 4 - that increase should be within the boundaries of what the government is asking public sector employees to accept.
Are there any public sector employees out there who have received a 40% pay rise?
Please let me know if you've had this piece of good fortune.

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