24 May 2012

Kate Lundy on public service job cuts

| johnboy
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Labor Senator Kate Lundy is returning fire to Liberal Senator Gary Humphries constant harping about public service job cuts.

The fact is that public sector jobs in Canberra will contract by 1500 and this will be achieved through voluntary redundancies and natural attrition, as announced in the budget.

Joe Hockey wants to slash 20,000 jobs – including 8000 from our key national security agencies supporting soldiers, police and diggers.

He wants a return to the 1990s, when the Coalition Government arbitrarily slashed around 29,000 jobs (between 1996 and 1999).

The Gillard Government has always been upfront that the APS does play a part in returning the budget to surplus, but unlike the Coalition we are committed to a strong and stable public service.

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Perhaps she thinks a digger is a name for a sailor? Whereas actually that’s a jigger, as everyone knows. Or did she means those in the security services digging through (or up) dirt?

Jim Jones said :

Jim Jones said :

Myles Peterson said :

Well spotted. What is the difference between a soldier and a digger?

Pretty sure that Kate Lundy isn’t an infantry soldier.

Digger = gold digger?

Jim Jones said :

Myles Peterson said :

Well spotted. What is the difference between a soldier and a digger?

A ‘soldier’ is someone who works in the armed forces. A ‘digger’ is a populist appeal by reference to nationalist mythology.

Except that infantry soldiers still to this day refer to themselves as diggers.

Pretty sure that Kate Lundy isn’t an infantry soldier.

I’d like to see Lundy’s source for these figures.

Yep, and a proper breakup. I imagine they’ve extrapolated them from Hockey’s various utterances about the usual Coalition activity of chopping the APS when it regains power. I have heard Hockey and Mr Rabbit declaring that they intend to target the Health and Education departments, they’ve got quite detailed about Health, but have they given firm figures? I don’t think they’ve made any firm policy statements yet, just rabble-rousing declarations to “get” all the usual favourite targets.

Myles Peterson said :

Well spotted. What is the difference between a soldier and a digger?

A ‘soldier’ is someone who works in the armed forces. A ‘digger’ is a populist appeal by reference to nationalist mythology.

… and if by diggers she means soldiers, why is she leaving out air force and navy? Use of “diggers” is just cheap populist-speak, and done poorly.

Unless she really does mean the people who dig holes.

Myles Peterson12:46 pm 24 May 12

Well spotted. What is the difference between a soldier and a digger?

“diggers”? Does she mean drivers of excavators?

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