Public servants have had enough. And it will be Canberrans who suffer if the ACT govt doesn't act
Opinion piece by Maddy Northam, CPSU Regional Secretary (ACT)
ACT public servants in the ACT have had enough. That message could not have been clearer last Friday on May Day, when more than 700 union members rallied outside the Legislative Assembly.
Health professionals, policy officers, hospice workers, child protection workers, Access Canberra staff, correctional officers and many more came together with one voice to say that being asked to go backwards is not acceptable.
ACT government public servants are not asking for special treatment. They are not asking for bonuses or perks.
They are simply asking for a pay rise that keeps up with the cost of living. Right now, the government is offering 3 per cent a year over three years. At the same time, CPI is running at 4.6 per cent. That means the government is planning to lock in a real wage cut for the workers who deliver the services Canberrans rely on every day.
This is happening in the middle of a brutal cost-of-living crisis. Rents continue to rise. Interest rates are biting. The cost of groceries, and utilities is climbing week after week. All this, plus a fuel crisis making it more expensive for Canberrans to get from A to B.
Public servants feel this pressure just like everyone else. They still have to put food on the table, pay the rent or mortgage, cover childcare costs and keep their families afloat. Like others in the community, it is becoming harder to make ends meet.
These are not abstract roles. These are the people who keep Canberra running.
They answer calls at Access Canberra when you need help navigating government systems.
They push you to get scans, take those scans and then care for you through diagnosis and rehabilitation in our public hospitals.
They support some of the territory's most vulnerable young people at Bimberi Youth Justice Centre. They work as dental assistants in public clinics.
They spend their days trying to house Canberrans as quickly as possible through Housing ACT.
They are child and youth protection officers keeping young people safe in complex and traumatic circumstances.
They are policy officers delivering the commitments that governments are elected on and that voters expect to see delivered.
If these workers stop work, Canberra stops. That's the reality.
And yet the government is prepared to send them backwards.
This pay offer also sits against the backdrop of redundancies across the Australian Public Service.
Make no mistake, these are job cuts by stealth. When positions are cut, the work does not disappear.
It is redistributed. Remaining staff are asked to do more with less until burnout sets in. Call wait times blow out. Services decline. The public notices, and it's the front-line workers who cop the frustration.
Both the Barr government and the Albanese government were elected on promises to invest in public services and respect the workforce that delivers them.
Instead, we are seeing job losses, understaffing and pay offers that fall behind inflation. That contradiction is impossible to ignore.
There is also a broader impact that cannot be brushed aside. Job losses and real wage cuts hit the local economy hard.
When public servants are forced to pour every dollar into rent, mortgages and groceries, they stop spending elsewhere. Local cafes, shops and small businesses in our town centres feel it immediately.
In health, the warning signs are already there. Local health professionals are looking interstate. A below-inflation pay offer will push more of them to leave, whether that is across the border to Queanbeyan or further afield to Queensland.
When skilled workers walk away, it is not ministers who wait longer in emergency departments or struggle to get appointments in government clinics. It's our kids, our parents, our fellow workers. It's our community.
When governments cut, we all pay.
Because of this, CPSU members and other union members across the territory are now being forced to consider protected industrial action, including striking. And it's not a decision taken lightly.
These CPSU members care deeply about the work they do and the community they serve. They stay on despite years of being stretched and overlooked. They keep working despite being told by the government that they are respected, but they just can't afford a pay rise.
Respect doesn't pay the bills.
It is time for Chief Minister Andrew Barr to step in and intervene in the bargaining process. It is time he tells Treasurer Chris Steel that money must be found to deliver a pay rise that at least keeps pace with the cost of living. Anything less is a real pay cut.
And on the APS front, we need to see the Albanese government deliver on its promise to Australians and continue to invest in public services. At next week's budget, the government must remember that cutting jobs is not savings, it is short-sighted damage that we all pay for.
Our public servants are the ones who step up when Australia needs them most, through floods, fires, pandemics and national crisis. Now it is time for the federal government to return that commitment, and back its workforce.
If the Barr and Albanese governments fail to act, it will not just be public servants who feel the consequences. It will be all Canberrans who pay the price.
Voting for the protected action ballots closes at midday today.
First published: in the Canberra Times on May 7, 2026 as "Public servants have had enough. And it will be Canberrans who suffer if the ACT govt doesn't act", By Maddy Northam
