Members support rethink on public sector resourcing

Annerley Labor has thrown its support behind the current Together Union push for the Queensland state government to change direction in terms of its public sector employment practices.

Branch members adopted the Union’s motion which expresses concern over existing policies such as the contracting out of certain corporate functions, the overuse of labour hire and the engagement and reliance of expensive private sector consultancy firms.

The motion asserts that these practices are ‘expensive, wasteful and damaging’ to the public service and that they ultimately hurt services. Of particular concern are the instances where workers are doing similar work but for different amounts of pay.

The union motion also highlights other issues for the state government to urgently address, such as:
• arbitrary rules such as staffing caps – including the unnecessarily legislated ‘Principle 6’ of the government’s fiscal strategy,
• the false and misleading distinction between “frontline” and “non-frontline” staff, and
• the poor governance of employment practices as currently overseen by the Public Service Commission.

The Branch has communicated its support for Together’s campaign by writing recently to the Premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, advising her of its adoption of the union’s motion. It is expected that the motion will be conveyed to ALP state conference in July.

Policy agenda backed by regional assembly

The April session of the Party’s Brisbane South Regional Members Assembly has supported all of Annerley Labor’s submitted resolutions. The meeting, which was held online, saw a number of motions considered from branch members across the federal electorates of Griffith and Moreton. The Assemblies are part of the Party’s democratic structure that allows rank and file members to discuss important policy matters that can then be conveyed to the annual state conference.

The Annerley Branch submitted several motions which included a call for local government electoral reform, a review of the public sector use of private consultancy firms, initiating a community dialogue on ways to strengthen and enhance our democratic system, introducing a code of conduct for state and local government election campaigning and ensuring family pets are considered in addressing the issue of domestic violence.

The Party’s state conference will be held this year in Brisbane on Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 June and will adopt a new policy platform as part of its business.