DEAR News Of The Area,
WHEN Peter Dutton announced that 41,000 Public Servants would lose their jobs under his government I began to ponder who they are and why the current government had re-employed them.
Many had been moved to much more costly roles as consultants, and the current government actually saved money putting them back on the books.
Public Servants are an amorphous collection, a soft target for politicians searching for a money saving, vote winning road to power.
At the federal level, they’re spread across 20 portfolio departments.
They’re employed at all three levels of government. What they do touches our lives each and every day.
As the Coalition is targeting health and education in the cuts they propose it’s not only the teachers, nurses and medical staff in public schools and public hospitals all over the country – ‘front line’ people.
And yes, I know a proportion of responsibility for both comes under State control, but they rely on federal government funding.
Across all the public service there’s an army of people letting the front liners actually get on and do their jobs.
Just in these two areas they include cleaners, cooks, laundry staff, gardeners, electricians, plumbers, IT technicians, people who work in the accounting sections – not only accountants themselves, but internal auditors, the people who source and order the huge volume and variety of supplies the front line workers need, and make sure that they’re available when they’re needed.
The office workers who pay bills and pay wages, calculate overtime, sick leave, holiday pay, superannuation, and issue invoices.
Pharmacists, pathologists, lab technicians. People who organise training sessions to help front line workers keep up their skills, and the people who teach them.
Mechanics servicing publicly owned vehicles including ambulances (and police cars).
The experienced teachers who work on our school curriculum, trying to ensure that our students are prepared for an increasingly challenging life when they leave school.
Still in Canberra: staff at the Australian National Library, the Museum of Australia, the Australian Archives, the Australian War Memorial among others.
Librarians, conservation specialists.
Administration staff who enable them to do their jobs.
Beyond Canberra they work in Centrelink, My Aged Care, Medicare.
I am confident that multi-millionaires such as Peter Dutton don’t know what it’s like to be kept on hold for an hour trying to talk to someone from one of these agencies.
When the Coalition cut their staff one result was Robodebt.
We’re still paying the thousands of dollars in compensation to people who were wrongly accused, but can’t return those who suicided to their families.
In deciding to reduce the numbers of Public Servants through attrition, the highest rates come from staff in Centrelink and My Aged Care, dealing every day with stressed people.
Cuts to the Bureau of Meteorology meant no after hours staff in wild weather events.
No back-up staff to keep the essential work continuing.
There is a place for consultants, but we risk seeing the conflict of interest which resulted in such scandals as the PricewaterhouseCoopers episode.
Regards,
Barbara LYLE,
Tea Gardens.
