The Coalition says frontline government services will remain intact even after it cuts 36,000 public service jobs to pay for its Medicare promise. Photo: Julia Gomina.
The Coalition can’t stop talking about the Australian Public Service and the thousands of its employees it wants to sack if it returns to office after the imminent federal election.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has spent the past year complaining that the APS was bloated and that there are “too many public servants in Canberra”.
He promised to slash the service if he becomes prime minister, and this week, he detailed how the 36,000 extra public servants employed since Labor came to power would go in order for him to pay for his $9 billion health funding promise.
On Thursday (27 February), two Coalition MPs backed up their leader’s commentary around the public service, telling the ABC the Opposition wants a leaner APS.
Queensland Senator James McGrath said the Coalition still wants the public service to deliver frontline services and will be up front about the size and type of APS it wants to have.
“A public service in Australia that delivers the services that Australians want and need; a public service that is sustainable,” he said.
“What the Opposition will do is make sure there are plans and policies that Australians can see before the vote, and this will go to the size of the public service in terms of the role of the public service, and make sure the frontline of the public service is focussed on the needs of Australians.
“What Peter and the Coalition have said is it will make sure that the frontline services actually are not cut – that the public service is sustainable.”
Nationals MP and former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce was also grilled about the future of 36,000 public servants.
He also backed Mr Dutton’s intentions, without conceding that services would be impacted if such high numbers were forced out of the APS.
“What we would do is make sure there is efficiency,” Mr Joyce said.
“There is always an inherent turnover in the public service.
“No one stays there for life, they stay for a period of time, [they] retire and people resign and they move on.
“There is a process of getting greater efficiency.”
On Monday, Mr Dutton was quite specific about using servant sackings to help pay for his promise to boost Medicare.
The Opposition Leader made his announcement directly after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promised an $8.5 billion investment to give all Australians greater access to bulk-billing GPs.
The PM says his promise is already catered for in the budget, but Mr Dutton says he needs to get rid of more than a few public servants to deliver on the Coalition’s health promise.
“We have looked at how we can fund this and how we can prudently provide this sum of money,” Mr Dutton said.
“It’s a lot of money, but we’ve identified, as you know, the scaling back of the public service – which has grown phenomenally under the Labor Party.
“Thirty-six thousand additional public servants, that’s at a cost of $6 billion a year or $24 billion over the forward estimates.
“This program totals $9 billion over that period, so we’ve well and truly identified the savings… These 36,000 public servants who are in Canberra, I’m sure, are good people, well-intentioned – but it brings the number of public servants to over 209,000.”
The Opposition Leader also goaded Mr Albanese over the timing of the election, saying parliament should return for another sitting as scheduled to legislate the Medicare funding.
“I think the onus is on the Prime Minister to make sure the parliament sits as scheduled and we can legislate to provide a guarantee around this funding which is important for general practice,” the Opposition Leader said.
“That is something we would support and we’re happy to sit down and help draft the legislation with the government, but it should be enshrined in legislation before the parliament prorogues.”
On Thursday Mr Albanese was asked three times during one Nova FM radio interview if he would use the occasion of his birthday, which is this coming Sunday, to call an election.
The PM answered “no” each time.
Interviewer 1: Do we have a date for the election yet?
Interviewer 2: He’s gonna tell us on his birthday.
Prime Minister: No.
Interviewer 1: You’re gonna announce it on your birthday.
Prime Minister: No.
Interviewer 1: No, not a birthday present for the rest of us?
Prime Minister: No. I’ll announce it when I’m ready.
Interviewer 2: Oh, the power.
Interviewer 1: You’re the boss, you can.
So, after all that banter – it’s odds on he’s going to see the Governor-General on Sunday then.
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