Slower housing market means 'hard choices' loom on public sector pay

Victoria faces hard economic choices as state stamp duty cash-flow continues to plunge on the back of the slowing housing market and there could be more bad news to come, Treasurer Tim Pallas has warned.

Government workers need to adjust their wage demands, Mr Pallas said on Tuesday, with very few state assets left that could be sold to bolster the budget bottom line.Public sector unions are reportedly unhappy that a 2 per cent pay rise has been proposed by the state government for tens of thousands of police, health workers and public servants, saying such an offer would fall short of cost-of-living increases.

But a dramatic fall in the number of house and apartments sales had already lead to a write-down of more than $600 million in stamp duty revenue this year and there could be more pain to come, Mr Pallas warned.The Treasurer is still forecasting a balanced budget this year and vowed there would be no ‘‘austerity’’ but generous pay rises for the state government’s workforces could be off the table, he said.

‘‘People do need to realise that the state’s revenue is being compromised, partly due to the adjustment that’s going on in the property market at the moment,’’ Mr Pallas said. ‘‘We’ve more than met inflation standards [on public sector pay] over the previous four years but we need to recognise that if the circumstances do mean that the state has a limitation on its capacity, due to a falling away of revenue, then we do have to make hard choices.Mr Pallas also warned that there could be more bad news for the state’s bottom line, as the housing market continued to cool.

Bullshit, have you seen the land tax rises

Living of Borrowed Cash had to slow or Stop. Governments not able to live within OUR MEANS. used the magic pudding theory of ever increasing house prices. oh goody Stamp Duty Tax Charges & More Rate $$$s

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'Every market losing steam' as housing downturn extends nationwideAustralian home prices fell a further 0.7 per cent last month and are now down nearly 7 per cent from their peak, as the downturn extends beyond Sydney and Melbourne. A neorealestate based economy Building for housing is probably the only manufacturing industry worth the name in our country. Building industry workers/ service providers losing income through lack of work and the shortage is digging in. Recession? In Sydney a stadium for the cost of 7,000 houses
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