Women pay twice when federal agencies cut staff. As workers, and as the women who rely on them
Opinion piece by Melissa Donnelly, CPSU National Secretary
Six in ten federal public servants are women. But as government agencies face staff cuts, CPSU's Melissa Donnelly says it's women - both as the workers affected and the people these agencies serve - who pay first.
Budgets make a difference to the lives of Australian women.
We have seen that firsthand with targeted investments in gender equity by the Albanese Government. Strong policies like expanding paid parental leave, huge investments in women's health, as well as addressing gender-based violence have all enhanced the economic stability, health and wellbeing, and safety of Australian women.
But Budgets can have a negative impact on women too.
It wasn't long ago that we had a Coalition Government that, when asked what the Budget would do for women, responded with 'women drive on roads'. And when we marched for women's rights, we were told by a Coalition Prime Minister we should be lucky we weren't met with bullets.
Women's rights were on the agenda then in 2022, as they were again in the 2025 Federal Election political debate.
But this time, in an insidious way.
Plans to cut more than 40,000 public sector jobs and working from home rights were central to the Coalition's policies at the last election. While Labor promised to continue to invest and deliver public services Australians depend on every single day.
Both policy positions directly impacted women.
Women should care about what happens to the public service, because it disproportionately affects them. It affects us, as people accessing public services, and I'll get to that in a moment - but with more than 60 per cent of federal public sector workers identifying as women, it especially impacts us as workers.
The average federal public-sector worker is a 43-year-old woman in a service-delivery role. And thanks to the nation-leading flexible work and working from home arrangements secured by the CPSU, there are more women working full-time - and therefore earning full-time salaries - in the federal public sector than ever before.
In 2025, Australia, by and large, voted for a strong and capable public service that could deliver for them and their community. They had started to feel the benefits of a first- term Albanese Government's efforts in rebuilding and reinvesting in the public sector capacity.
And after enduring hard Coalition years of cuts, outsourcing and privatisation, public sector workers welcomed the investment and support. Yet here we are, a week out from another Labor Federal Budget, and public sector workers are getting nervous. There is a growing sense of unease as some agencies are already facing job cuts and hiring freezes.
The growing list of agencies cutting back on staff numbers includes the Department of Health, the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, the Department of Social Services, the Department of Industry, Science and Resources, the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, the Australian Bureau of Statistics, and the Department of Education.
The National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA) is cutting more than 20 per cent of its staff, which will undoubtedly impact its ability to deliver on key priorities such as aligning programs and policies with Closing the Gap. And in some agencies, these are far from minor cuts.
This will impact women working in these agencies. But it will also impact the services these agencies deliver, services that women often rely on.
Accessing affordable housing and rental options, assistance with work and study arrangements and financial support, and gaining a better awareness of early childhood education - these services ensure Australia is at the forefront of gender equity.
New mums now wait an average of 4 days for their paid parental leave claim to be processed, down from 17 days in 2021-22, due to increased investment in the public service. Yet we still don't know whether the additional funding that brought on 4,000 Services Australia staff to clear backlogs, reduce call wait times, and speed up processing will continue.
Cut these jobs, you cut these services. Australian women will be the first to feel it. Even more so for the female workforce.
The National Indigenous Australians Agency has 71.2 per cent of employees who identify as women. The Department of Social Services has 72.2 per cent; the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet has 67.1 per cent and Services Australia has 68.2 per cent of their total workforce who identify as women, with 23.5 per cent working part-time. The Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commission has 91.3 per cent of employees who identify as women delivering crucial services to women in need.
We are witnessing the loss of trained and trusted public sector workers in the name of budget savings, while big consulting and labour hire firms continue to pocket millions of dollars for doing public sector work.
But it also cannot be ignored how this loss of workforce has a detrimental impact on women workers.
Keeping women financially stable is key to their safety. If women can't access meaningful, well-paid work with flexible work arrangements, they need access to social services from a well-resourced, properly staffed public service. Put simply, the support our public sector delivers keeps Australian women safe, secure, and, in some cases, alive.
So, if our valued and trusted public sector employees are facing job cuts and hiring freezes, and with women making up more than 60 per cent of that workforce, well, you don't need to be a statistician to know who will draw the short straw if there are Budget cuts.
In this Federal Budget, we need the government to support Australian women by protecting the jobs and services they rely on.
We need to see this government support women workers and direct agencies to stop cutting jobs, and to start being bold and ambitious in cutting back on contracts with big consulting and labour hire firms.
As a woman worker in Australia, I need this Budget to continue supporting us. It needs to invest in and support Australia's public services and it needs to put an end to job cuts and hiring freezes.
