Government salaries are chicken feed compared to the money this government is blowing
ttbn,
Salaries are the major expense in anything we do as a society. Be it paying some morons for doing sfa or paying manufacturers in other countries because our lot's too heavy on the purse, in the end it's all about affordability. Some Unions are always pushing for more despite the fact that their members become unaffordable to employers, Australia is the employer of our politicians & we can't afford them much longer.
Cutting services worsens the dilemma. A cut in wages/salaries would be a good start because it would bring about a drop in costs just as demands for higher wages/salaries inevitably always results in higher prices.
We need to get away from using other nation's manufacturers as our suppliers, we need to manufacture here AGAIN !
COVID-19 is only in its baby steps, just wait for some volatile variants to take hold. How will we fight that, raise wages/salaries ??
People aren't demonstrating because they can't work, they're demonstrating because they're running out of funds.
The individual cost to Australian Govt Debt must be the responsibility of all who live here, not just the workers. I find it astonishing how quiet the unions remained throughout the pandemic. There are no recommendations from any of them to work on a solution for the good of the Nation.

waived our rent for three months
Paul1405,
If you can do it so should big income earners in Govt do with their immoral salaries !

The Gerry Harvey corporation pocketing $22 million in 'Jobkeeper' whilst paying big bonuses and making record profits. Then having Harvey thumb his nose at all decent Australians, with the sarcastic line; "I pay taxes (stiff you)" crims go to jail for stealing $22! This was a typical glaring example of entitlement from an over blown grub. BUT he got away with it!

OK. With the help of DL, I've pointed out how much our spendthrift government is costing us. I'm not arguing about what money should or should not be spent on, but borrowing to spend it should stop. I doubt that it will. We have a government which seems to have turned its back - under two leaders now - on the very principles that has seen it elected more times than the alternative, and that alternative is useless in opposition. Eighty percent of voters are ostriches. The odds are against change, mainly because of those ostriches.

Some valid points have been raised about long-term
planning and being prepared for dire situations.
We have the pandemic as a good example.

Why did it take so long for the federal and state
governments to acknowledge workplace spread in
hospitals and aged care, or for masks to be made
mandatory in these settings. Why weren't these
governments doing more to put in safeguards in facilities
against COVID. Why was there no infection control plan or
staffing plan in place in case of an outbreak?

A blame game is not the answer while exhausted staff
and health care workers struggle to treat the growing
numbers of patients.

The same goes for our government debt.
Long-term planning is key. I'm not an economist, but
surely there's enough of them around to be able to
advise our governments on these issues and cutting
essential services to me at least does not seem like
the answer.

Govt on both sides have been operating on a Harvey Norman tactic for way too long & everyday consumers just lapped it up. Well, guess what ? This can't go on any longer.
Govt needs to address the tax system, rid us of negative gearing & start with getting some discipline back starting in the classroom.
If you're only in for the money then use your merit to make it, don't ask Taxpayers to fund you !
Spread the wealth among those who create it ! The others should just be glad they're in Australia !