Thank you Deputy Speaker, thank you Minister for the admission that we all know that the public sector wage bill is unsustainable. The point that you are making is that National Treasury indicates that the average remuneration in the public sector is higher than in the rest of the economy. That is an issue of concern.
However, what I would like to ask you about ... I know you indicated that there is a lot of details that still needs to be sorted out. We know that the new negotiations for the next wage settlement will start next year. In the past, one of the concerns has been that the settlement has been above consumer price index. Whilst we from the ACDP appreciate ... a lot of people ... please, nurses are doing incredible good jobs. How will we ensure that
that increase, if anything, is sustainable when you look at the sustainability of the fiscus and the fiscal consolidation path that is required to bring our government debt levels into alignment? Thank you.