Kevin Lewis has had a full and colourful career in Queensland. He's worked as a teacher, owned and operated a small business and worked in the community sector, before moving into the public sector working for the Queensland Government.
Now in his 50's, after many years working as a public servant Mr Lewis has found himself unemployed for the first time in his life after his contract was not renewed in the latest round of the LNP Governments public service cuts.
"It came as quite a shock. I've been with the Department [of Communities] and with the Government in this stint for around four and a half years.
The affect of his job loss on his family has most concerned Mr Lewis.
"I was surprised at the affect on my family; I've found that this is a concern, even for our young daughters. It's been heavily on their mind. Is dad going to get a job? Where is it going to be? What is going to happen to me?"
Mr Lewis says the hardest part about his new job search is the places he's now found himself approaching for work.
"I've found it a bit embarrassing at my age and stage to be walking up with my CV, knocking on the door saying 'have you got a job'".
Speaking for the first time as himself and not the Department he once represented he says with the loss of longstanding employees of the public service will ultimately mean a loss of corporate knowledge and memory for Government Departments.
"For the people who have been terminated, there are losses in a number of areas. The corporate history and memory that is lost with those people. And the other part is the job is still there to be done, but there are in fact less people to do the same amount of work or more."
Although the role Mr Lewis held wasn't described as 'frontline', he believes that government services will suffer as a result of the behind the scenes jobs that have been axed.
"I believe they will, and I know that some of them have. It's in relation to timely payments to service providers, so there is a fairly direct impact on those service providers.
"I've had a strong reaction from the colleagues I've left, in a sense some of them feel guilt that they're there and some of us are not."
more http://www.abc.net.au/local/audio/2012/09/03/3581977.htm?site=brisbane
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