Public servants are the forgotten heroes of Australia and Albo targeting them in May's budget is a betrayal
Labor must not slash jobs and funding for public servants, writes Zac Batchelor
The pandemic showed us a lot of things. It showed us how resilient we are, and how supportive to one another we are.
But what we really saw was in a time of crisis how important our public services are. They kept us safe, healthy, financially viable and secure. These frontline workers put themselves at risk for the greater good of our community.
And now, as we face geopolitical challenges, in a cost-of-living and fuel crisis, we are again reminded of who protects us, serves us and what it is it about our identity as a nation that makes us great.
Australians believe in a fair go; Tasmanians especially so. We believe in access to good education, better healthcare, a safety net for the unemployed and the elderly and decent, meaningful jobs.
At the 2025 election, when the Coalition said they were going to slash more than 40,000 public service jobs and working from home rights, Australians voted for a fair go for our public services. They remembered who got them through the tough times and they voted for Labor, who promised to strengthen and support the public sector.
At first, the federal government had a renewed focus on delivering transparent and effective public services, that act with integrity and independence.
In Tasmania hundreds of APS jobs were converted to permanent roles.
In fact, as of December 31 last year, there are now 900 more Tasmanians employed in the Australian Federal Public Service. We have seen the economic benefits this has had on our regional communities by giving these workers the security they deserve to get a mortgage, start a family and build their future - a fair go.
But we must never forget what proceeded and ultimately caused this renewed focus.
In its last year in government, the Coalition spent $20.8bn on 54,000 external contractors - creating a shadow workforce delivering profits to their private sector mates while degrading public services and cutting public sector jobs.
They gave us Robodebt, a catastrophic failure of governance that had devastating impacts on Tasmanians. A cruel program designed to demonise those that are the most vulnerable in our community.
We had the PricewaterhouseCoopers scandal where not only were PwC making huge profits from ATO contracts, but were then using that same inside information to generate revenue for their accounting business.
And we had a proposal to hand over control and privatise our visa system through private consortiums run by their mates. Thanks to the tireless work and advocacy of CPSU members and delegates, this one never went ahead. After years of enduring scandals, job cuts, outsourcing and privatisation, public sector workers welcomed the Albanese government's renewed investment and support.
So how are we now staring down the barrel of the May federal budget with anxious public service workers? It's because they are again facing job cuts and recruitment freezes.
Real job cuts in agencies like, the National Indigenous Australians Authority, Department Social Security and of course something that is particularly part of Tasmanians identity, CSIRO and the Australia Antarctic Division.
And we still don't know if the 4000 Service Australia workers directly employed to clear backlogs, bring down wait times and speed up processing will be continued in the May budget.
These job cuts mean one thing - the loss of trained and trusted public sector workers. The same workers Tasmanians rely on when the going gets tough. Nearly every Australian has been positively impacted by public services. Here in Tasmania, one in five families rely directly on the services delivered by federal public servants including veterans, students, pensioners, jobseekers, new parents, people with disabilities and their families, and people in aged care.
We are losing these valuable public service workers in name of budget cuts while big consulting and labour hire firms continue to pocket millions of dollars for doing public sector work.
In 2024-25, only 75 per cent of agencies set a target for insourcing work from those arrangements and a third of those did not meet, or only partially met, their targets. It's clear to the CPSU that many agencies are not taking the government's expectations on insourcing seriously, and that increased pressure and accountability from the government is needed.
The capability and capacity of our public service is a critical part of our country's resilience infrastructure, supporting communities and government to prepare for, respond to, and recover from crises big and small.
The Labor government was elected on a promise of rebuilding public services and public sector jobs. But right now, these improvements and jobs are at risk.
In this federal budget we need to see the government invest in public services and support public sector jobs.
It's the only way to give our workers, Tasmanian families and our community a real fair go.
Zac Batchelor is the CPSU-PSU Tasmanian Regional Secretary
First published: in the Hobart Mercury on April 29, 2026 as "Public servants are the forgotten heroes of Australia and Albo targeting them in May's budget is a betrayal", By Zac Batchelor
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