The Bligh budget blowout

So, in the good times Queensland never laid down the basis for a smaller and less costly public service.

Queensland is only coming to these reforms now - too little and too late.

Making these matters worse is that since 2000, Queensland public servants have had the strongest growth in gross earnings per state public sector employee of any state. Earnings rose from $39,000 in 2000 to about $53,300 (an average 5 per cent a year), compared with Tasmania (4.7 per cent), New South Wales (4.2 per cent), Western Australia (4 per cent) and the ACT (3.8 per cent).

Furthermore, in 2008-09, Queensland had the second-highest costs in terms of benefits and perks to public servants, just behind NSW and ahead of Victoria and the rest of Australia.

Importantly, Queensland public servants have been earning more than their private sector counterparts. This has contributed to the skills shortage in the private sector, which is a particular problem in a growth state like Queensland. Why work harder in the private sector when better conditions exist in the state bureaucracy?

Some argue that increases in Queensland public servant numbers were needed to deliver services in education, health and public safety given Queensland's growing population. This is a valid view but sadly many of these additional public servants do administration rather than deliver services to citizens.

In Queensland's public hospitals there has been a growing proportion of personnel in managerial and administrative positions relative to medical staff.

An increasing proportion of non-operational staff has also been seen in the police services. Studies show that extra resources in education, mainly in the form of more teachers, have not resulted in better-quality education.

Fixing Queensland's financial crisis is going to take longer than the other states because this expanded public sector makes it harder to initiate change quickly.

The Bligh Government's close relationships with trade unions constrain necessary corrective policy actions, attempts at staff redundancies and resistance to public sector unions' wage demands.

Cutting government functions is also difficult given Labor's predisposition to intervention and the demands of its key constituencies.

With more bad news expected in relation to commodities and our tourism sector and with a continuing population boom requiring more infrastructure, Queensland needs more stringent policies sooner rather than later. Can the Bligh Government deliver?