Turnbull presides over public sector job cuts

28 November 2017

The latest Australian Public Service commission State of the Service 2016-17 report shows the deep cuts to public sector jobs have continued under Turnbull and his Liberals.

In the past year alone, 3,529 public service jobs have been cut.

Since 2013, the year the Liberals were elected, public service jobs have been ripped away. Is it any wonder we have regularly seen critical tax office system crashes, millions of unanswered Centrelink calls and long waits for Medicare?

These job cuts come in addition to the thousands of workers that have already lost important workplace rights and many thousands more are facing cuts to vital conditions, such as family friendly provisions and domestic violence leave.

You can tell a lot about a government by how it treats its workers – Malcolm Turnbull must be judged by what he does for workers, and how he treats his own workforce, not what he says.

Labor values the expertise and experience of our public servants and recognise that a strong and efficient public service is a necessity, not an accessory.

Labor does not believe in Mr Turnbull’s agenda to cut jobs and strip rights and believes there is an alternative. Labor believes in an approach to enterprise bargaining that actually improves the capability of staff and provides fairness in the workplace, work-life balance and secure, meaningful jobs. An approach that does not force agencies to strip rights and conditions.

Turnbull and the Liberal-Nationals are completely out of touch with the lives of ordinary Australians.