Opinion piece by Zac Batchelor, Tasmanian regional secretary, Community and Public Sector Union
Regional jobs matter, regional public services matter, and workplace flexibility matters - especially for Tasmanians. And that's why we should be angry right now.
Peter Dutton isn't a man with many plans, but the few he has got will hurt our local community and our local economy. He's promised to gut public services, to wind back investment in regional public service jobs, and to end working from home.
Here in Tasmania alone, there are 74,000 pensioners, 15,000 people accessing the NDIS, and almost 10,000 veterans and their families. That's 100,000 Tasmanians already who will be impacted by these cuts, and that figure doesn't include people in aged care, people accessing social security payments, Medicare, or the PBS.
I could go on, but I'll spare you the list and just say that the public service supports us in countless and often unrecognised ways.
The Albanese Government's investment in public services and ongoing commitment to reducing outsourcing to consultants and contractors is paying off.
The Opposition likes to use outdated data to support a claim that services haven't improved, but the facts tell a very different story.
Aged Pension claims are being processed 52 days faster than before - a 62% reduction. Paid Parental Leave claims - 28 days faster, or a 90% improvement. Medicare patient claims - 5 days faster, or a 71% reduction. The backlog in Veterans' Affairs has been cleared and veterans have improved access to front of house services with more people employed in Open Arms, including here in Hobart. Centrelink offices are once again being staffed to the levels the community needs, including with the re-opening of Sorell Service Centre in November last year.
This progress of course, would all be undone with the election of a Dutton Government who has promised to deliver the worst attack on public services we've ever seen.
Deep public sector cuts delivered Robodebt, they delivered $21 billion in outsourcing to a shadow workforce of private consultants and contractors, and they delivered a backlog in Veterans Affairs claims that had devastating consequences.
It's simply not a public service standard anyone should aspire to return to. But the consequences for Tasmanians don't stop there.
There are around 5,000 public service jobs here in Tasmania. From the top of our state in Burnie and Devonport right down to the bottom, in Hobart. These are good quality, well-paid jobs held by locals, doing a range of essential work including supporting our veterans and pensioners, working in our defence sector, the NDIS and assisting with the administration of our immigration system.
Peter Dutton has committed to cutting more than 40,000 public sector jobs, which would see Tasmania alone losing 1,000 jobs.
Research by the Australia Institute into the flow-on effect of APS jobs into local communities shows that for every APS job created, there is a multiplier effect which sees 1.68 jobs created here in Tasmania. This suggests that the local impact would be even worse than those 1,000 jobs.
Not content with cutting jobs, Peter Dutton has promised to cut working rights that are critical to supporting regional public sector jobs.
The boost to working from home rights has increased the number of roles outposted throughout regional Australia and created significant opportunities for Tasmanian workers. Right now, Tasmanian workers can have a career in the public service without having to move to Canberra - which is good for services, good for Tasmanians, and good for the local Tassie economy.
Anybody living in Hobart and Launceston will tell you that working from home is also a significant benefit given increased traffic congestion in recent years. Cutting work from home, as the Coalition has promised, would force more workers back on the roads, force some to reduce their working hours and pay, and push others out of the workforce entirely.
There are a lot of numbers thrown around and a lot of noise when an election is nearing. Sometimes the local impact of what has been put on the table isn't clear.
But this time it is.
If the Coalition wins this election, Tasmanians will be worse off.
The public services we rely on will suffer. Tasmanian pensioners will wait longer. Tasmanian veterans will end up lost in a backlog. Tasmanian families waiting for NDIS assistance will go unsupported.
One thousand Tassie locals will lose their jobs and there will be further damage to local businesses as money is ripped from workers who spend locally.
It's clear to me that Peter Dutton's plan to gut public services, axe jobs and wind back workers rights doesn't benefit Tasmania one bit.
This opinion piece was first published in the Hobart Mercury on the 5 April 2025
