Minister for Finance Professor Biman Prasad

A massive review is set to take place in the civil service to better understand what happened within it in the last decade.

Minister for Finance Professor Biman Prasad says this will be done in partnership with the Australian Government.

He stresses the importance of this exercise as a means of setting the right salary ranges for civil servants.

Prasad agrees that not all civil servants will benefit from the wage increase announced in the budget, as some had recently received a raise.

“What had happened is some people who have already got an early step movement they have already had a pay rise so we are excluding them from this step up for all the other more than 30,000 civil servants.”

The Minister highlights that a new base step will be implemented, and future salary demands will require consultations and adherence to established processes.

“Going forward we need to look at a holistic review of the size of the civil service and the structure and that can only come through proper job evaluation and discussion with the unions and there are processes that the unions will need to follow.”

Prasad says this salary increase reflects the government’s recognition that it cannot wait for the job evaluation process and needs to offer an immediate salary increase in this budget.