Labor is warning Peter Dutton’s election promise to cut tens of thousands of Australian Public Servant government jobs will lead to longer wait times for essential services.
Services that could be impacted including answering phones at Centrelink and the ATO to processing NDIS and migration requests.
Hear more from today’s headlines on this episode of The Briefing:
The Opposition Leader appointed Jacinta Nampijinpa Price as the shadow minister for government efficiency over the weekend.
Dutton said in a statement Australians were “sick of the wasteful spending”.
He said 36,000 public servants employed under the Albanese government costs the taxpayer around six billion a year.
Finance Minister Katy Gallagher has hit back at Dutton’s election pitch saying without the roles tax avoidance and threats to national security could rise.
Her office has also detailed what roles could be on the chopping block, saying that since 2022 the government has employed thousands of people at Services Australia, the AFP, NDIS, ATO, Veterans’ Affairs as well as in agriculture and energy departments.
The Coalition claims these cuts will allow them to re-direct spend on things like cost-of living relief and bolstering defense and security in other ways.
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