Under a pre-budget announcement, the Treasurer plans to axe 1,000 public sector jobs by simply not replacing staff when they leave.

The Public Service Association (PSA) and the Greens Party have fiercely condemned Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis’ plan to freeze public sector hiring, labeling it a cowardly protection racket for highly paid executives and expensive outside consultants at the expense of everyday workers and services.

PSA General Secretary Charlotte Watson said the government is targeting the wrong people to save a dollar.

SA Greens Leader Robert Simms MLC said, “If the government are serious about reducing costs in the public sector, they should stop pumping millions of dollars into private consultants and the outsourcing of essential services. A recent example is the privatisation of the Adelaide Remand Centre – the contract with Serco has been renewed despite poor outcomes.”
“The Greens have written to the Treasurer to suggest a range of revenue measures that could be implemented in this year’s State Budget, including axing subsidies to the fossil fuel industry and finally implementing a big bank levy. These measures could raise billions of dollars. SA’s public service shouldn’t be carrying the can for Labor’s poor budget choices.”

If the Treasurer actually wants to save taxpayers some money, he needs to look at the top floor, not the front line. Last year alone, the state government blew a massive $1.4 billion on outside contractors and consultants. Why are we paying top dollar for highly paid executives if they just hire expensive consultants to do their jobs for them? If these bosses need to bring in consultants to figure out how to run their departments, then they simply aren’t up to the job.

While executive ranks keep growing, ordinary workers are being pushed onto the unemployment queue or forced to shoulder impossible workloads. There is zero appetite to cut the fat at the top, but plenty of enthusiasm for cutting the workers who actually keep this state running.

The PSA warns that leaving 1,000 everyday roles vacant will directly hurt South Australians.

“They’re not calling it a cut, but when you stop replacing workers, the result is exactly the same: fewer people doing more work, and services suffering. It might sound tough, it might sound all butch, it might make a nice soundbite to counter the slash and burn rhetoric from a barely relevant Liberal opposition, but it’s ordinary South Australian punters who’ll bear the brunt.

“This is ‘headline policy’, it creates a good headline, but it’s a disastrous policy. It’s designed to sound tough, not to actually work,” Ms Watson said. There appears to be no appetite to reduce the number of highly paid executives, but there is plenty of enthusiasm for cutting the workers who actually deliver services to the community.”

The government needs to stop protecting bloated executive budgets and start investing in the people who actually deliver the services South Australians rely on.