Unfortunately for Canberra jobs and economy, the Liberals have reaffirmed their ideological commitment to “cutting government jobs” in the same way the former Howard Government did in the first years of that government in 1996 and 1997.
Incredibly, Liberal Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey was explicit in saying the areas of greatest need in the community, health and education would be hacked to the tune of 5,000 jobs as well as confirming their razor gang was looking for more cuts.
“Not only does this show that the Liberal and National Coalition have learnt nothing from their years of neglect of health and education, it also shows they remain ideologically obsessed with discredited GW Bush-era ‘small govt’ slogans.
Canberrans have good memories and recall how the Howard Government cut 30,000 jobs in 96/97 after saying they would only cut 5,000 before the 1996 election. As a result the ACT economy went into a recession with house values sinking up to 30 percent in some areas.
But this is not just a risk for Canberra. By singling out health and education for job cuts, the Coalition has shown just how out of touch they remain with the real needs of all Australians.
Canberra Liberal Senator Humphries admitted on ABC radio this morning that he was aware of the plans to make cuts, making him culpable in the Liberals plans to slash jobs arbitrarily.
In contrast, Labor’s actions in government demonstrate our focus has been on targeting waste, ineffective programs and developing sensible strategies to improve productivity and efficiencies in the commonwealth public service for the future, as outlined in the Public Sector Review released earlier this week.
Under Labor, the overall size of the Commonwealth public service has remained steady and while there is movement within departments and agencies to reflect Labor’s priorities, this sensible approach by the Rudd Labor Government will continue.
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