An independent review into the wages of NSW’s public servants conducted by the University of Sydney’s Workplace Research Centre has found that the sector’s employees are not overpaid, casting further doubt over Premier Barry O’Farrell’s planned overhaul of the public IR systems.

 

The report found that compared with public servants in other states, New South Wales’ police, nurses and teachers are not overpaid. The report also found that had the State Government implemented its planned 2.5% pay rise cap, the state’s employees would have the lowest wages in the country.

 

In an interview with The Financial Review, Dr John Buchanan, the director of the Workplace Research Centre at the University of Sydney's Business School stressed there has been no wages blowout and that the IR reform could cause serious labour shortages in the public sector.

 

The findings come as O’Farrell warns that a $2 billion budget blowout if the parliament does not enact the proposed IR reforms.