The Australian Council of Trade Unions has condemned federal opposition leader Peter Dutton’s threat to axe 36,000 public service jobs.
In a move mimicking billionaire Elon Musk’s purge of the American public service, Dutton announced his plan to save $6 billion annually by cutting public sector jobs to match the current Labor Federal Government’s investment in Medicare.
Cuts detrimental to all Australians
ACTU President Michele O’Neil said if the Coalition were elected and proceeded with Dutton’s plan, one in five public sector jobs nationwide would be lost.
“Australians need an effective public service that supports their communities,” Michele said.
“Sixty per cent of public servants are based outside of Canberra and cutting those jobs means we lose the expertise, services and incomes those workers provide to local communities across Australia,” she said.
The ACTU warned that cuts to public sector jobs would not save taxpayers money.
An under-resourced, under-funded public sector will be detrimental and reduce quality and availability of services to all Australians.
When in office previously, the Coalition relied heavily on expensive private consultants and labour hire, awarding the Big Four accounting and consulting firms contracts totalling $21 billion in the final year alone under the Morrison government.
The job cuts risk creating growing claim backlogs at Services Australia, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Australian Taxation Office, which could delay essential payments and weaken tax avoidance efforts.
Approximately 7000 new hires were needed to clear the near three-year backlog of veterans claims and NDIS assessments, with the backlogs causing considerable angst and trauma for those waiting for assessments.
Over 20,000 new public sector jobs are based outside of Canberra, with frontline health and community workers serving regional communities including Townsville, the Blue Mountains, Goulburn and Geelong.
Michele said job cuts mean service cuts to all Australians.
“The only winners from Dutton’s proposed cuts are the big consultants that will profit from this outsourcing and multinational companies that will have weaker oversight on their tax avoidance,” she said.
Coalition a threat to workers
Shadow Education Minister Sarah Henderson indicated the Coalition would also save money by opposing the Labor Government’s $16 billion pledge to waive 20 per cent of tertiary student debts.
An Australian with an average-sized student loan would pay $5,520 more under Dutton and the Coalition.
The Coalition also voted against the Labor government’s free TAFE legislation, which has saved students up to $20,000 in course fees and has funnelled workers into industries with skills shortages.
The ACTU has also called on Dutton to divulge his hidden industrial relations policy, as public scrutiny turned to the Opposition leader’s questionable bank share trading and clandestine property dealings.
The Coalition has publicly stated they will rescind hard-won protections for casual and gig-economy workers, scrap the Right to Disconnect and abolish Same Job Same Pay laws.
IEU-QNT Branch Secretary Terry Burke said the considerable progress and improvements to industrial relations laws made under the current Labor government would be on the chopping block under a Coalition government.
“Thanks to union members’ advocacy, working conditions and wages have increased under the current federal Labor government,” Mr Burke said.
“The Coalition’s plan to repeal the Right to Disconnect will negatively impact IEU members who do not have this provision protected in their collective agreement.
“Any cuts to public services will impact IEU members’ personal and professional lives, with Medicare, Services Australia and ATO operations weakened.
“NDIS delays because of the cuts will inevitably have flow on effects for schools where students access NDIS funding,” he said.
Mr Burke said with a looming federal election, Australians would be looking closely at which political parties are on their side regarding their working rights.
