The Queensland Government will not save any money in the long term after changing its planned public service wage freeze to a deferral, Premier Annastacia Palaszczcuk has acknowledged.
The commitment for a freeze on worker pay rises was made by Ms Palaszczuk more than three months ago, to start on July 1.
But Labor had been unable to reach a deal with several unions which were unhappy with the austerity measure, announced as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
The State Government on Tuesday introduced legislation into Parliament to temporarily stop the pay rises but said the savings would be paid back to workers in the future.
Ms Palaszczuk said she had honoured her commitment to freeze the wages of public servants, despite conceding the Government would not save any money in the long term.
"We'll actually have the money in the financial year where we need, which is now," Ms Palaszczuk said.
"We are committing to job security while recognising a freeze is needed to help Queenslanders get back to work."
The 2.5 per cent deferral will free up about $500 million over the next financial year, but the pay rises will be doubled for staff in the 2022 calendar year.
Unions say deal is a wage deferral
Most unions have accepted the arrangement, telling their members that it is a wage deferral, rather than a freeze.
But Shadow Treasurer Tim Mander said it was a confusing change.
"When it comes to the public service wage freeze, the Premier was all over the hop," he said.
"First it was a wage freeze, now it's a deferral — it's chaos — this is a total debacle."
The State Government has also promised to freeze the multi-million-dollar bonuses regularly paid to executives and staff of government-owned corporations.
