The Greens exposed during Budget Estimates Committee hearings today that forced redundancies within the public sector is flagged in government documentation, contrary to the Liberals’ election commitment.
The Greens MPs’ also cross-examined Ministers seeking details of how many jobs were to be cut from each Department, and how departments intended to meet their imposed budget savings targets.
“It is clear the Hodgman government does not have a plan to identify the targeted 700 public sector job cuts, as Ministers repeatedly failed to detail how many jobs are to go from their respective departments. It is looking extremely likely that more than 700 jobs are at risk,” Greens Leader Kim Booth MP said.
“The Liberals are also all over the place when it comes to forced redundancies. Despite promising no forced redundancies during the election campaign, documentation appeared last week on the State Service Management Office (SSMO) website which clearly details as a step in the process Agency Heads being able to terminate employment after a six month redeployment process.”
“This is an outrageous breach of faith.”
“Ministers kept ducking and weaving from specific and direct questions during Estimates scrutiny, refusing to address the conflict over whether forced redundancies will be imposed, and failing to declare how many of the 700 total jobs are to go from within their departments.”
“Minister Groom tied himself into knots trying to assert that both there wouldn’t be any forced redundancies, but that jobs would be terminated. Either the Minister has no idea, or the government is being very slippery.”
“Minister Hidding even admitted that theoretically all 700 jobs could come from one department, rather than be spread across all agencies.”
“This is gross incompetence by the Liberals. They’ve worked out they need at least 700 jobs worth of money to pay off their election promises debt, but have no plan or strategy in place to identify where those jobs are going to come from, or whether there is even the capacity to remove them or the impact upon service delivery,” Mr Booth said.erence: http://www.dpac.tas.gov.au/divisions/ssmo/Managing_Positions_in_the_State_Service/redeployment
Kim Booth MP | Greens Leader
