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.