Media Release

1 June 2020

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NSW Labor has called on the Berejiklian Government to back down from wage cuts for workers, after independent economic modelling revealed the move would cut 1,100 jobs from the State economy.

Treasurer Dominic Perrottet has repeatedly claimed that cutting the wages of more than 400,000 public sector workers will stimulate the economy. Mr Perrottet has not released independent analysis to support these assertions and today’s independent report from the Australia Institute puts the Treasurer on shaky ground.

“Dominic Perrottet’s cut to public sector wages isn’t just an insult to every worker who kept our community going during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is an act of economic vandalism” — Adam Searle MLC, Labor Shadow Industrial Relations Minister

“The Treasurer’s announcement this morning was a deliberate attempt to pit workers against each another to shore up his steadily weakening position,” Mr Searle said.

“It beggars belief that in the midst of the worst global economic crisis since the Great Depression Dominic Perrottet is willing to forgo 1,100 jobs.”