Dr MARJORIE O'NEILL (Coogee) (14:22:09): My question is directed to the Premier. This morning the Premier said that during difficult times, "people tend not to spend and that has contributed to the lack of economic activity". Why then is she taking money out of the pockets of over 400,000 workers?

Ms GLADYS BEREJIKLIAN (Willoughby—Premier) (14:22:34): I will remind the member for Coogee of the facts. The Treasurer and I and many on this side of the House sadly have had to repeat on the record that economic activity is generated when people feel confident about spending, when people have a job or feel they have a secure job. In New South Wales there are now 221,000 fewer people who have a job and hundreds of thousands of others who are on JobKeeper who are worried they may not have a job. That is why the Government is working day and night, working our guts out, to give people a sense of security to get a job or to keep their job so that they can feel confident to buy the basics.

We are not even talking about consumption in a broader context. We need to factor in that families are doing it so tough they are contemplating where their kids will attend school next year and what they will buy in the supermarket. When one does not have a job, the basics become important and one has to consider everything. The Treasurer conveyed to the House an example he struck when he was at a food bank. He articulated a recent case study of a family whose young child took some food out of their lunchbox and gave it to their mum in case their mum needed it because the family had been doing it so tough. The child had obviously heard conversations in the household that things were tough. This is the task we have ahead of us. I cannot stress this point enough: Yesterday's figures on the contraction of the New South Wales economy—the greatest in the nation—is to the end of the March quarter. That is largely as a result of the impact of the bushfires. The major impact from COVID will not be felt at least for the June quarter. The figures that come out for April, May and June will not be pretty for New South Wales.

Ms Jodi McKay: Which is about the time when you are ripping wages from 400,000 people.

The SPEAKER: Order! This is serious. The Leader of the Opposition will remain silent.

Ms GLADYS BEREJIKLIAN: These are the difficult times that we face. Probably when one holds my role or a senior role in government, one appreciates every day the role of public servants and the contribution they make to the State. In fact, one of the Premier's Priorities is that we probably have the most flexible workplaces through our public service to give women, especially, the flexibility to work from home or work different hours to ensure that they can progress through the senior ranks of the public service. We do what we can in that regard and every year we try to make sure we are—

The SPEAKER: Members will remain silent.

Ms GLADYS BEREJIKLIAN: I am not sure what is funny about this.

Ms Jodi McKay: It was you looking for support.

Ms GLADYS BEREJIKLIAN: We are more than ever committed to supporting our public service to ensure that all 410,000 employees, no matter what role they play—whether they are in a call centre, on the front line or are providing important advice—know that they have a job because 90 per cent of all employees in New South Wales do not know whether they have a job.

The SPEAKER: The member for Gosford will come to order.

Ms GLADYS BEREJIKLIAN: At least every single public servant knows they have a job and they also know that at the end of the 12 months—

Ms Jodi McKay: You just threatened their jobs. You've told them they do not have a job.

The SPEAKER: Order!

Ms GLADYS BEREJIKLIAN: The basic tenet of our wages policy is to ensure that every single public servant knows that they have a job for the duration of the wages freeze. Unfortunately, the vast majority of our citizens do not have it. Job security is not only critical to people for being able to spend on those things that keep them going and those things that will create economic activity, but also essential for us to get through this very difficult time. We cannot stress that enough. As I said, yesterday's figures were a good wake-up call, but they will be nothing compared with the likely figures that we will get at the end of the June quarter. Once JobKeeper finishes at the end of September, we will have literally hundreds of thousands of extra people in the State who perhaps will join the Centrelink queue or will be forced into taking a pay cut or reducing their hours because their employer cannot afford to keep them on. That is what our State is facing. We do not apologise—I certainly do not apologise—for having to make those difficult decisions. That is what governments are elected to do.

The SPEAKER: I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the second time.

Ms GLADYS BEREJIKLIAN: We have gone through every option we have before us and there are a number of considerations that the Government is making about how it can create more jobs and provide that job security.

The SPEAKER: I call the member for Auburn to order for the first time.

Ms GLADYS BEREJIKLIAN: But we also must ensure that we appreciate the importance of building infrastructure and supporting small businesses. I commend the Treasurer and all the Ministers who have been involved in those grants that have gone to small businesses. I also commend the Deputy Premier for the work he has done in the bushfire recovery because that has meant businesses in the bush have been able to redo their activities.

The SPEAKER: I call the member for Blue Mountains to order for the first time.

Ms GLADYS BEREJIKLIAN: I ask members opposite to take the politics out of it and to think of the citizens because our State is going through a very difficult time and we all have to stick together.