At least 27,000 Queenslanders, many of them disadvantaged job seekers, have fallen prey to Campbell Newman's cost-cutting axe as the fallout moves beyond the public sector and into the wider community.
The Premier's decision to dump $45 million in job skilling grants has robbed hundreds of community workers of their jobs and affected thousands more who were being helped into employment.
Charities supporting some of the state's most vulnerable, including at-risk-youth support group Boystown and Logan refugee social enterprise Access Services, have told dozens of workers their jobs will go as grant funding dries up in coming weeks.
Non-profit group Blueprint Employment will be forced to close its Darra training centre next month after losing three staff - half its workforce - to the cuts.
"The funding was designed to help people who fall between the cracks of other programs and that is just the shame of this program closing down," Blueprint operations manager Angie Rue said.
Despite the widespread success of Skilling Queenslanders for Work, Employment Minister John-Paul Langbroek argued it must be axed to end duplication with federal government initiatives.
He initially said the move would save $19 million but his office later confirmed that was a "mistake" and $53.8 million had actually been axed, including $8.5 million in operational costs and $45.3 million in grants.
Sally Edwards, CEO of Career Keys, which lost $1.4 million and had to sack 11 employees, said battler suburbs would suffer.
She believed 23 organisations had lost three-year funding worth $51 million in Logan alone, a city where unemployment at times hits 27 per cent, well above the statewide 5.5 per cent rate.
"These programs were concentrated in the areas of greatest need," she said.
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