Wednesday, June 19, 2013

PSA: Baird's Budget cuts to hit schools, TAFE, foster care, parole

NSW State Budget cuts jobs and resources from critical public services while putting a further squeeze on workers’ pay and conditions, the Public Service Association said today.

The budget outlines job cuts from across the public service including TAFE, schools, disability and foster care and parole officers.

PSA General Secretary Anne Gardiner said the budget outlined a reckless approach based on cutting rather than investing, with no plan to service the growing NSW population.

“You can’t build a better NSW by putting people out of work and cutting services to the community,” Ms Gardiner said today.

“Today we’ve discovered that TAFE, secondary education and support for disability and other vulnerable community members will be axed.

“These are random and dangerous measures that will have long-term consequences on communities and local economies, particularly in regional NSW.

“You may not feel the impact of these cuts when you wake up tomorrow, but when you next try to register yout car, or contact your child’s school or seek care for a family member, you will experience the eroding effects of these cuts.

The 15,000 job cuts already announced by the O’Farrell Government are still playing out, hitting jobs and local economies in uncertain economic times, said Ms Gardiner.

“We don’t accept that the government has to put people out of work in order to invest in transport.

“We don’t accept that the government has to put people out of work in order to build schools. We need more people to service our growing state, not fewer,” she said.

Today’s budget also includes:

an extended efficiency dividend which will lead to pressure to cut corners in the public service; and
plans to claw back superannuation increases guaranteed by the Federal Government.

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