New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi President Sandra Grey has today blasted Nicola Willis's pre-Budget announcement on public sector job cuts. "After years of failing to make her economic plans work, failing to get the economy back on track, and failing to get the cost of living under control, the Minister of Finance is looking for someone else to blame. This is just a cynical ploy designed to prop up the Coalition's Budget, rather than a coherent plan designed to tackle New Zealand's public service needs," she says.
"The Minister outlined cuts of 12% over three years to affected departments. With inflation on top, that's around a 20% real-terms cut in funding to departments that look after biosecurity, customs, online exploitation, and public health - with staff to be replaced by AI robots and contractors who don't count as permanent staff. 8,700 fewer staff delivering essential services, but bonus times for international consultancy firms. This is the opposite of what value for money means," Grey says.
"New Zealand needs skilled and talented people to deliver the public services we all rely upon. The Minister has just guaranteed a minimum three years of disruption, change, and employment insecurity. Rather than making our public services better, the Minister has just provided another reason for people to leave both the public service and the country. Some of the functions likely to be cut by departments will end up back in government agencies to save money. That simply makes it a cut to frontline public services in disguise," Grey says.
"Kiwis deserve better than this frankly desperate gamble from the government. Arbitrary cuts to public services. Vague hopes that technology will save billions with no plan. No real understanding of the huge and often unmet public service needs of New Zealanders. Ministers aren't even being required to do the work of making decisions - they are passing that down to departments. This is simply the government confirming how out of touch they are," Grey says.
