The Palaszczuk Government had been forced to admit that despite the employment of a further 8000 public sector workers since coming to government, standards and services to Queenslanders had declined.
In Estimates Hearings at State Parliament today Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls said Annastacia Palaszczuk had been unable to point to any improvement in standards following the hiring of more than 8000 extra public servants in the last 12 months.
“Queenslanders are right to expect this Labor Government should be able to explain improvements in the performance of all its Departments on a regular basis,” Mr Nicholls said.
“In the past, the best explanation Annastacia Palaszczuk could give when she was asked about the benefits to taxpayers from additional public sector workers, she said “the evidence is the families of Queensland, that’s the evidence.”
“In Estimates today, we asked why student learning targets were missed in 14 of the 24 reporting categories that the Education Department reports against, despite the employment of thousands of new staff.
“We asked why performance data from the Communities and Child Safety Department shows response times to investigate suspect abuse in child safety is getting worse with only 22 per cent investigations requiring action within 10 days starting on time.
“We asked why only 62 per cent of calls to the Department of Transport’s call centre were answered within three minutes when the target was 80 per cent.
“These are important questions about services that Queenslanders expect from their State Government, yet the Premier refused to answer in detail.”
Mr Nicholls said it appeared the Palaszczuk Government had only decided to release the latest report detailing public sector numbers after a media report in the Brisbane Times this morning.
“An article highlighting the over 90 reviews this Labor Government had begun in its 16 months in office, and it’s tardiness in releasing performance reports seems to have shamed the Premier into releasing the Queensland Public Sector quarterly workforce profile,” he said.
“Queenslanders want to see results from their State Government, not endless reviews and hidden reports.”
