Mr Abbott is promising to shed 12,000 public sector jobs through a hiring freeze in his first two years of power but this would have a major flow-on effect and would cost another 17,400 jobs in the wider economy, according to ACTU economic modelling released today.
ACTU President Ged Kearney said it took years for the Canberra economy to recover after the last time the Coalition gained power in 1996 and took the axe to the public service.
"If all those 12,000 public sector positions are Canberra-based, the result of Tony Abbott's hiring freeze could be to rip almost 30,000 jobs out of the ACT economy. That's the equivalent to an extra 10% unemployed in Canberra. Last time the Coalition was in power and attacked the public service, it tipped the local economy into a technical recession.
"When Tony Abbott was Workplace Relations Minister, he used the public service as a testing ground for WorkChoices by encouraging widespread use of Australian Workplace Agreements.
"Tony Abbott is just pandering to anti-public service prejudice, but he has no concept of the economic damage his poorly-thought policy would do. Worse, the lack of detail in his policy is creating unnecessary uncertainty among Canberra's workers."
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